Penn State, affectionately known as "Linebacker U," has produced some of the top defensive players in the country, many drafted to the NFL. Senior defensive tackle Jordan Hill and junior defensive tackle DaQuan Jones are two more products of coach Larry Johnson expected to thrive at the next level, but first Jones must continue the legacy as a Nittany Lion while Hill prepares for the next chapter of his football journey.

Video by Karisa Maxwell and Tyler Estright.

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Penn State will find out if its outstanding postseason continues today as quarterback Jake Waters announces his college choice at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Waters, from Iowa Western Junior College, threw for 3,501 yards and 39 touchdowns this season. He had just three interceptions.

His decision comes down to Penn State and Kansas State. Waters visited the Manhattan, Kan. campus last weekend. He also received late interest from Texas and Alabama but had no scholarship offers from either of those schools.

Waters will have junior eligibility and enroll in school in Jan. Classes for the Penn State spring semester begin Jan. 7.

The Associated Press unveiled the 2012 AP All-American teams today, but you will not find any Penn State players on the list this year. So, cue the perhaps unnecessary outrage if you choose.

On offense you will see Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Johnny Manziel headlining your first team AP All-American offense, joined by the Big Ten's Montee Ball (Wisconsin) at running back and protected by Michigan's Taylor Lewan. Honestly, when you look through the first, second and third team offensive All-Americans on this list, it is hard to argue a Penn State player should have received a nod over any, and that includes sophomore wide receiver Allen Robinson.

Should one of Penn State's top linebackers have received more consideration to be included on the list this year? You can make a case that at least one should have been included, but in a  strong year for linebackers it really is hard to get too worked up about it.

According to @ap voters, there are nine linebackers in the country than Penn State's Michael Mauti and Gerald Hodges. bit.ly/URXutL

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) December 11, 2012

There may not be a bowl game for Penn State this year, but the postseason continues to be a good one.

After a host of awards and honors earlier this month, the Nittany Lions Sunday added a recruiting coup.

It was a big recruiting weekend that ended with Penn State getting four verbal commitments Sunday including highly rated targets Zayd Issah, and DaeSean Hamilton.

The Penn State football season may have ended two weeks ago, but the work certainly hasn’t.

While well-deserved honors have rolled in for a host of Nittany Lions and coach Bill O’Brien, it’s O’Brien and his staff that have ramped up preparation for next season and beyond.

The one, and only one, benefit to not having a bowl game is that the coaching staff can really concentrate on recruiting. And with the heavy-handed scholarship limitations that Mark Emmert handed down, figuring out recruiting will be the number one task over the next several years for O’Brien.

One hint of what Penn State’s strategy may be in dealing with the scholarship numbers is how they have targeted the top junior college quarterback prospect Jake Waters.

It's about more than wins and losses

Earlier this week I received my ballot for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. With a number of very worthy candidates on the ballot I know that this should be a close race when the votes start being counted by the Football Writers Association of America.

Brian Kelly has Notre Dame back on the top of the college football world, playing for a BCS championship in January with a Heisman finalist playing in the middle of his defense. Urban Meyer also took his Ohio State team from playing .500 football last year to an undefeated regular season with nothing to show for it. Will Muschamp has Florida back in the SEC discussion the way Meyer had them at their height not so long ago.

David Shaw took Stanford to a Pac 12 championship few expected in a year many anticipated a colossal showdown between Oregon and USC. Shaw and Stanford, without Andrew Luck, beat them both.

Kevin Sumlin led Texas A&M in to the SEC in grand fashion, sending a freshman quarterback in Johnny Manziel to New York as a Heisman frontrunner and shocking the SEC by knocking off Alabama in Tuscaloosa to earn some serious respect in their new conference home this season.

Bill Snyder once again found a winning formula using a bunch of players long forgotten in recruiting trails looking to make others regret passing on them, and if not for one poor game the Wildcats would be playing for a BCS championship.

Dave Doeren, heading to North Carolina State, is largely responsible for sending Northern Illinois to the BCS, the first team to do so out of the MAC conference, after winning 12 straight games capped by a double overtime victory in the MAC championship game. Gary Andersen led Utah State to a 10-2 season and the final WAC championship to be awarded in conference history. Utah State's two losses this season both came on the road, at Wisconsin and BYU, by a combined five points.

To put it simply, all of these coaches are worthy of coach of the year honors for a variety of reason. My vote, however, has gone to Penn State's Bill O'Brien.

The 2012 season is in the books and college football's award season is in full swing. This year I wanted to try something new during the early months of the off-season knowing there would be no bowl game for Penn State fans to be looking forward to. Introducing the (First Annual?) Penn State Fan Vote, where Penn State fans will get a chance to voice their picks for top moments, players, games, and more from the 2012 season.

The idea is simple. From now until December 19 you will have a chance to nominate your picks for a variety of categories related to the 2012 season. All nominations will be counted and finalists for each category will be revealed on Friday, December 21. We will then open voting for each award and announce the winners for each starting on Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

Do you or somebody know use a Kindle, or Kindle Fire? Does the Kindle user in your life have a desire for more Penn State commentary on their e-reader device? Good news. Nittany Lions Den is here for you, now on Kindle.

Nittany Lions Den is now available for subscription in the Amazon Kindle Store for a low, one-time price of $0.99. You can get a free 14-day subscription and try it out as well. With Kindle sales rising this holiday season, a good number of Penn State fans may be getting one as a present. Why not also give them a subscription to a growing Penn State website as well? Whenever new content is made available on the website, it will be automatically updated on your Kindle device as well.

If you are an iPad user, do not feel left out. You can download a free Kindle app for your iPad and subscribe to Nittany Lions Den that way as well.

Check us out on the Amazon Kindle Store!