Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1015973
The 16th annual Lift for Life event July 2 at Holuba Hall raised nearly $94,000 to benefit Uplifting Athletes and its commitment to life skills development, patient-focused programs and rare dis- ease research. The 2017-18 fundraising total for the Penn State chapter of Up- lifting Athletes is nearly $115,000, bringing the 16-year total for Lift for Life to just under $1.4 million. This year's edition of Lift for Life fea- tured more than 100 members of the Nittany Lion football team, with ap- proximately 1,000 fans in attendance. The exhibition featured rotations of one-on-one battles in the tire flip, sled pull, bench press and farmer's hold, fol- lowed by tug-of-war competitions. For the fifth year in a row, Lift for Life in- cluded a kids' clinic, which was run by the Nittany Lions' true freshman players. The event concluded with an autograph ses- sion. Founded by Penn State football team- mates Scott Shirley, Dave Costlow and Damone Jones in 2003, Lift for Life has benefitted cancer research and the rare- disease community. Uplifting Athletes has established 22 chapters with Divi- sion I football programs across the country. Since its inception, the organi- zation has had an economic impact of more than $400 million on the rare-dis- ease community. Donations to the Penn State chapter of Uplifting Athletes and Lift for Life will remain open until Sept. 30. Fans can track the live total or donate by visiting the chapter's fundraising site at pledgeit.org/team/penn-state-lift-for- life-2018 or by sending a donation to Will Flaherty, director of player devel- opment and community relations, at 201 Lasch Football Building, University Park, PA 16802. POSITION CHANGES The Nittany Lions have been trying to figure out their best offensive line combination, and that ef- fort may include new roles for two key players. When preseason practice began in August, Connor McGovern was at guard and Michal Menet at center, a role reversal from last season when McGov- ern was the team's starting center in all 13 games and Menet backed up Brendan Mahon at right guard. McGovern has already proven himself at guard. It's where he began his Penn State career in 2016, starting nine games F O O T B A L L N O T E B O O K Nittany Lions raise $94,000 at latest edition of Lift for Life A W A R D S W A T C H NAME POS YEAR WATCH LISTS Ryan Bates OT Sr./Jr. Outland Trophy Koa Farmer LB Sr./Sr. Polynesian Player of the Year, Butkus Award Blake Gillikin P/K Jr./Jr. Ray Guy Award Jonathan Holland TE Sr./Jr. Mackey Award Connor McGovern G/C Jr./Jr. Rimington Trophy, Outland Trophy Trace McSorley QB Sr./Sr. Maxwell Award, Wuer2el Trophy, O'Brien Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award Shareef Miller DE Sr./Jr. Bednarik Award, Ted Hendricks Award Miles Sanders RB Jr./Jr. Doak Walker Award Nick Scott Saf. Sr./Sr. Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Without even playing a game, Penn State's Trace McSorley has picked up an award. The senior quarterback was one of 10 players to receive preseason hon- ors from the Big Ten last month at the conference's annual media sum- mit in Chicago. He was the only player on the list to receive unani- mous recognition from a panel of media members. McSorley is being eyed for some other awards this fall, and he isn't the only Nittany Lion under scrutiny. Here's a list of the team's preseason watch listers: SIGNING DAY K.J. Hamler signs a hel- met for a fan during the Lift for Life auto- graph session. Photo by Curtis Chan