Penn State football: LaMont Wade defends ‘LawnBoyz’ chain criticism

Penn State football’s backfield recently debuted their ‘LawnBoyz’ chain this week, and not everybody was too thrilled about it.

You can’t please everybody nowadays. Penn State football found that out this past Friday when they started something that we’re not quite used to seeing from the Nittany Lions.

As we know, Penn State’s running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider came up with a unique nickname for his group of players within the running backs unit.

For quite a while now, Coach Seider referred to his backfield as the ‘LawnBoyz.’ It all began when Seider often used the nickname as a hashtag on Twitter when referring to his players. This week, the backfield decided to take it a bit further, though.

Against Maryland on Friday night, Penn State joined the trend of wearing certain accessories on the sidelines after accomplishing something on the field.

The Miami Hurricanes have become quite famous for this trend, as their defense would crown a player with ‘the turnover chain’ whenever somebody would force a turnover.

This week, the ‘LawnBoyz’ chain made its debut when Penn State running back Ricky Slade took the ball in for a rushing touchdown.

Moments after Slade threw it on, FS1 showed it on the broadcast for everybody to see. Some loved it, as it shows the backfield’s personality and will to have some fun as a team. Others, well, they aren’t adjusting to the change so good.

Jared Raggi of Onward State recently scoured through Twitter to find the public’s perception of the chain, and the results came back showing that many aren’t too fond of the idea.

Like many things, the perception wasn’t all negative — but the negative comments always seem to hold more weight. And Penn State safety LaMont Wade took notice and decided to respond to the negative criticism surrounding the chain.

LaMont Wade’s response

“Respect tradition dearly,” Wade wrote in response to the initial article. “That’s why my [is not] name not on the back of my jersey, and my cleats are black every weekend … but this is a new generation.” Clearly, Penn State won’t be doing away with their new tradition anytime soon.

And why should they? Wade raises a good point — and for that, he received a lot of support in his own comments. Penn State alumn, Shelly Ren mentioned, “This alumn has zero problems with it! You do you.” A season ticket holder, Steven Bergel also responded that he “100-percent agrees” with Wade. “Times change, and people need to change with them!”