Kevin Newsome

Kevin Leonardo Newsome, Jr. (born January 21, 1991) is a former American college football quarterback from Portsmouth, Virginia who played for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team from 2009 to 2011, and for the Temple Owls football team in 2012.

Newsome was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and attended Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, Virginia until his junior year, where he transferred to Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia.

At Western Branch High School, Newsome lettered in football and track and field.

In his junior year of football, he passed for more than 1,600 yards and twelve touchdowns, and rushed for more than 500 yards and eleven touchdowns.

Participating in track and field as a sprinter and hurdler, Newsome was ranked fourth in the nation as a hurdler and earned All-America honors while becoming a high hurdle state champion twice during his junior year of high school.

Newsome helped to bring home first place honors while running last leg for Western Branch High School in the 2008 Penn Relays 4x1 meter relay championship race, and was the captain of the track and field team.

As the only freshman on his track and field team, he finished tenth at the Virginia state championships.

Newsome served as the president of his junior class and earned a 3.7 GPA, while becoming a member of the National Honor Society.

At Hargrave Military Academy, Newsome was coached by Robert Prunty as a true high school senior.

He was selected to participate in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Newsome would go to have the most rushing yards in the game while completing one pass on one attempt for 45 yards to Logan Thomas.

Scout.com ranked him as the No. 10 quarterback nationally and Rivals.com placed him on the list of Top 40 prep players nationally.

Both Scout.com and Rivals.com rated him as a four-star recruiting prospect, while ESPN.com gave him a scouts grade of 80.

Newsome originally committed to Michigan during his junior year of high school, but later decommitted during his senior year to take Penn State's scholarship offer.

Before accepting Penn State's offer, he had received over 40 scholarship offers, including ones from Boston College, North Carolina, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.

Newsome enrolled at Penn State in January 2009 in order to prepare for the academic and athletic rigorousness before camp began.

He took part in winter conditioning and spring practice before the 2009 season began, in an attempt to become the top backup to starter Daryll Clark.

In the Blue-White scrimmage on April 25, Newsome played for both teams and went 9-of-13 for 71 yards, and threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brett Brackett.

In his Nittany Lion debut against Akron at home on September 5, Newsome went 3-for-4, threw for 26 yards, and rushed for 12 yards on two carries.

Against Syracuse, he fumbled the ball on a sack, which gave the Orange their only points (against Nittany Lion reserves), but recovered from that mistake to lead the Nittany Lions into the red zone, at which point he was relieved by third-stringer Matt McGloin, who had his first instance of playing time.

Against Temple, he played in the final two drives, but little else, and he ran for a first down to kill the clock against Illinois.

Against Eastern Illinois on October 10, Newsome passed for 34 yards on four completions.

He rushed for 49 yards on seven carries and scored his first career touchdown to put Penn State up 52-3.

He led Penn State to a second drive into the red zone late in the fourth quarter before being relieved by McGloin.

Against Minnesota, he handed the ball off a few times, but saw little action elsewhere.

Against Northwestern, after the Nittany Lions had put the game away 34-13 early in the fourth quarter, Newsome nearly led them to another scoring drive, but were forced to punt.

He also saw this degree of playing time against Indiana.

Against Michigan State, he scored his second career touchdown to give Penn State a 42-7 lead over the Alamo Bowl-bound Spartans and score his first touchdown against an FBS team and against a Big Ten team, following Michigan State's touchdown pass to Keshawn Martin against reserves.

In 2009, Newsome went 8-for-11 for 66 yards overall, with a completion percentage of 72.7%.

He rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdown.

He averaged 4.75 yards per carry.

He was one of only eight true freshmen to play for Penn State in 2009.

He played in every game of the 2009 season except for the Iowa and Ohio State losses and the 19-17 Capital One Bowl victory against LSU.

Following Daryll Clark's graduation, Newsome was expected to compete with Matt McGloin and freshman Robert Bolden for the starting quarterback job in 2010.

In the Blue-White game on April 24, Newsome went 5-for-12 for 50 yards and took three sacks.

In the first preseason depth chart, Newsome was listed as the co-starter at quarterback with McGloin, however, coach Joe Paterno named Bolden as the starter for the season-opener against Youngstown State over Newsome and McGloin.

On the official depth chart, Newsome, Bolden, and McGloin were all listed as co-starters.

Newsome had three carries for 21 yards and a touchdown after he entered the game in the fourth quarter.

He only attempted one pass in the game, but it drew a pass interference flag from the defense.

He was relieved by McGloin on the final drive.