PSU has 5 land on all-decade teams
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STATE COLLEGE -- Five Penn State football greats were honored by Sporting News this week, being named to its 2026 College Football All-Decade All-America teams. Tight end Ted Kwalick (1960s), linebacker Shane Conlan (1980s), offensive lineman Sean Farrell (1980s), linebacker LaVar Arrington (1990s) and running back Saquon Barkley (2010s) were all tabbed to the All-Decade teams.
Kwalick (1966-68) was inducted into the College Football HOF in 1989 and finished fourth in Heisman voting in 1968, the second-highest finish by a tight end in the award's history. He was a first-team All-AMerican in 1967 and consensus first-team All-American in 1968.
He became Penn State's second two-time All-American. The Big Ten Tight End of the Year award is named the Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year after him.
Kwalick tallied 86 catches, 1,343 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in his career, ranks third all-time at PSU in receiving yards by a tight end and in 1967, he had 33 catches for 563 yards and four scores and 31 for 403 yards in 1968.
Farrell (1969-81) was a first-team All-American lineman in 1980 and consensus first-team All-American in 1981. He was tabbed as a Lombardi Award finalist in 1981, was an Outland Trophy finalist in 1981 and helped Penn State to 10-win seasons in both 1980 and 1981 and a pair of Fiesta Bowl wins.
He was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 1982 NFL Draft.
Conlan (1983-86) was a major contributor to the Nittany Lions' 1986 national title as a linebacker and made two interceptions in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, returning one to the five-yard line to setup PSU's winning touchdown. He was named Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Game.
He served as co-captain as a senior and led PSU to a 23-1 record and two national championship game appearances over his last two seasons.
He was a first-team All-American in 1985 and a consensus first-team All-American in 1986, finishing his career with 274 tackles, ranking 10th all-time at Penn State.
Arrington (1997-99) finished ninth in the Heisman voting as a linebacker in 1999 and won the Butkus Award, Bednarik Award and Jack Lambert Award in 1999 and was a Nagursky Trophy and Lombardi Award finalist that year.
He was named a first-team All-American in 1998 and unanimous consensus All-American in 1999.
He was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 1998, the first sophomore to earn the award, after recording 72 tackles, 20 for loss, nine sacks, one interception, a forced fumble, two fumble returns including one for a touchdown and two blocked kicks.
His famous LaVar Leap against Illinois was the 1998 Compaq Defensive Player of the Year.
He led PSU to three bowl games with 173 career tackles, 39 tackles for loss, 19 sacks and three picks in his career. He was the second overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.
Barkley (2015-17) finished fourth in the Heisman voting in 2017 as a running back, the best finish by a Nittany Lion since 2002. He was a second-team All-American in 2016 and a consensus All-American in 2017, becoming the program's 100th first-team All-American.
In 2017, he was a first-team All-American at running back by the AFCA and Walter Camp and a first-team All-American as an all-purpose player by the Associated Press, FWAA, CBS Sports, ESPN, Phil Steele, Sports Illustrated and The Athletic.
Barkley finished career as the program's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (43), total touchdowns (53), all-purpose yards (5,538), receiving yards by a running back (1,157), receptions by a running back (102), and finished second in rushing yards (3,843) and scoring (318).
He's the only player in PSU history with 3,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in a career (one of five Big Ten players). He was selected with the second overall pick by the New York Giants in the 2017 NFL Draft.