AMHERST, Mass. — The NFL scouts have come to see Adam Breneman up close. To inspect the left knee that once forced him to give up football—and determine for themselves if he's truly repaired. To hear the story of how the one-time savior of a fractured Penn State program quit the game and stumbled into a career in politics, only to end up here, playing for a football program that has won a grand total of six games in the past three seasons.
Here is Amherst, Massachusetts, the home of UMass football. It is the middle of August, six days before UMass will open its season against Hawaii.