Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1001699
2 0 1 8 S E A S O N P R E V I E W LIVING MOMENT IN THE Q U A R T E R B A C K S Memories of last year's tantalizing near-miss linger, but Trace McSorley is making good use of them – as fuel for his drive to take the next step this coming fall T race McSorley was admittedly taken aback upon first hearing his own name included in the Heisman Trophy conversation. Fresh off a debut season in 2016 that lifted Penn State to a Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl berth, the Nittany Lion quarterback had never even considered the possibility that he would be listed as a Heisman contender in the wave of too- early preseason predictions that began appearing on websites and magazine stands in the spring of 2017. In spite of his 3,614 yards passing and 36 touchdowns through the air and on the ground, McSorley was convinced that teammate Saquon Barkley's sterling sophomore performance was the only one to warrant that type of national attention. "It wasn't even a thought to me," McSorley said. "And then I saw something where my name was kind of mentioned, and I was like, 'Holy —, that's pretty cool.' " It was one of the more surreal moments of his football career, but since then McSorley has had plenty of time to acclimate to the possibility. He followed up his first full season at the helm by spearheading a 10-2 regular season and a Fiesta Bowl win last year, and the awards, accolades and attention surrounding McSorley have only grown. So much so, in fact, that as his final season at Penn State quickly approaches, he is considered one of the favorites to win the 2018 award. The luster hasn't become a distraction, however. During the first half of the 2017 season, he shared a backfield with the Heisman front-runner, only to see the talk surrounding Barkley's candidacy di- minish as the year went on. Recalling how quickly the conversation shifted, McSorley is wary of prognostications. "Week four, five, he was a sure lock for the award. Everyone was saying, 'Hey, Heisman com- mittee, put in your votes now!' Then at the end of the year, he's not even in New York as a finalist," McSorley said. "You realize that all the stuff that's been talked about doesn't really matter. Even what's talked about halfway through the season doesn't matter. It's going to be determined by the end of season, the whole body of work." As the Nittany Lions came to painfully learn, that whole body of work simply was not enough last season. They opened with three breezy non- |