Update: Penn State’s Kevin Newsome ‘will be transferring as soon as possible’

Earlier Thursday, reports surfaced that Kevin Newsome was likely leaving the Penn State football program and would probably seek a transfer.

This evening, Newsome has erased the “likely” and the “probably” from the equation.

In a conversation with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the quarterback confirmed that he will be transferring from PSU sooner rather than later.  Newsome will be seeking a landing spot where he could immediately, which would suggest he may be looking at dropping down a level to Div. 1-AA.

“I will be transferring as soon as possible. But that’s all I can say,” Newsome told the paper.

Newsome came to Penn State as a highly-touted recruit in 2009, but has been buried at No. 3 on the Nittany Lions’ depth chart for the better part of a year.

With Newsome’s departure, and the academic issues that will likely sideline Paul Jones for all of 2011, Penn State will likely have only walk-on redshirt junior Shane McGregor behind Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin, who resumed the battle for the starting job as summer camp opened today.