UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While pro football teams add to their rosters, a pair of Penn State communications students will be building their resumes during the NFL Draft this week in Las Vegas.
Two senior journalism majors — Kyle Cannillo and Zech Lambert — will be on site covering the first two days of the draft for CommRadio, the online radio station housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. This year is the 12th that Penn State students have covered the NFL’s biggest offseason event.
CommRadio was the first collegiate media entity to cover the draft from start to finish, and Penn State students have been on location more often than their counterparts from any other school to cover the event in the past decade, even with a hiatus the past couple of years because of the pandemic.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Cannillo said. “There have been so many chances to get better during my time at Penn State and I’ve tried to make this most of all of them. Still, this is pretty special — on an even higher level.”
Cannillo, Lambert and dozens of students from CommRadio have been preparing for the draft for weeks. They compiled numerous preview stories and conducted research on hundreds of potential draft picks.
While Cannillo and Lambert are on site, other students will participate in broadcasts Thursday and Friday from CommRadio’s on-campus studio. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. Thursday and at 6 p.m. Friday. Coverage lasts until midnight each night.
“It’s an assignment that you kind of dream about, or at least hope for,” Lambert said. “We’ve done so much work and really want to give people listening a sense of what’s happening at the draft. It’s a big deal to get to do something like this and we’re serious about doing it well.”
Cannillo, from Annandale, New Jersey, came to Penn State with a communications degree in mind and has honed his skills with internships with WTAJ-TV, Penn State Athletics and Showtime. Just days after commencement in early May, he’ll drive to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, to begin a full-time job with the Chippewa Steel, a team in the North American Hockey League.
Lambert, from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, initially intended to major in forensic science at Penn State. He switched majors when he found out college science was “a whole different thing” from high school science. So, he pursued his sports passion with a focus on sports journalism and positions with CommRadio as well as The Daily Collegian. He has covered Penn State football for the Philadelphia Inquirer and completed an internship with the Charlottesville Tom Sox baseball team.
Despite all their accomplishments, and with commencement just over a week away, they’re focused on their draft duties this week.
“It’s exciting, and it’ll also be hard work as we get on location, get set up and coordinate things with everyone at the studio,” Cannillo said. “After all the preparation, it’ll be nice to get behind the microphone and focus on the show.”
“It’s a chance to finish my time at Penn State strong, covering a big event and doing it well,” Lambert said. “That’s pretty much the plan this week.”