Blue White Illustrated

T H E 2 0 1 8 S E A S O N MAKING HIS MARK Trace McSorley has already built a formidable legacy at PSU... and he's not done yet | race McSorley's final season as a Nittany Lion is under way. Twelve games, probably more, to build on an already sterling reputation as Penn State's starting quarterback. He has won a Big Ten championship, played in back- to-back New Year's Six bowls, including last season's Fiesta Bowl victory over Washington, and has picked up countless individual honors and accolades along the way. McSorley's work has been an impor- tant part of the program's proud 132-year tradition – so much so that the word legacy has a real and meaningful reso- nance for the 23-year-old. Voices other than his will ultimately determine that legacy, and it will happen over the passage of time. But as he makes his final trip around the Big Ten, he knows very much what he would like it to be. "I hope the fans look at me as someone who was a humble leader," McSorley said, "someone who came to Beaver Stadium every single game and gave everything they had for the blue and white and for Penn State, someone who was able to bring Penn State back to the legacy that Penn State has always been. And some- one who was able to bring Penn State back in that limelight and that national spotlight that it deserves to be in with the tradition that it has. Just one of those players who people can look back on and talk about, hopefully for years – not only what I did on the field but what I meant to the team and the program and what I was able to do off the field." McSorley's on-the-field accomplish- ments are relatively straightforward and undeniable. He beat out redshirt freshman Tommy Stevens in the Lions' 2016 preseason camp but did not enjoy immediate suc- cess. His first four starts produced a 2-2 record, as he completed 74 of 117 passes for 707 yards and four touchdowns, top- ping Kent State and Temple while losing at Pitt and Michigan. Signs of potential flashed early, how- ever. A Nittany Lion offense that had been among the least productive in the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision the two previous seasons began its ascent into one of the nation's most explosive. With McSorley leading the charge and running back Saquon Barkley at his side, Penn State easily surpassed its 23.2- and 20.6-point scoring averages from those seasons. The Lions reeled off nine consecutive victo- ries, and McSorley set a number of school and conference records in the process. The team's average of 37.6 points per game was sixth-best in Penn State his- tory, and McSorley led the nation in yards per completion while also finishing atop the Big Ten in passing efficiency, total of- fense, passing touchdowns, total passing yards and yards per pass attempt, earn- ing MVP honors of the Big Ten Champi- onship Game and a second-team All-Conference selection. Talk to McSorley's teammates though, and the on-field accomplishments are not what stand out. Instead, leadership is the quality that defines McSorley within the program, from the locker room to the practice field to the stadium turf and far beyond the bounds of the game itself. That he's done so in the face of doubts and low expecta- tions, particularly at the outset of his ca- reer, has also proved an important ingredient to McSorley's influence within the program. Displaying both understated confi- dence and fierce competitiveness, Mc- Sorley has served as an example to teammates of what can be accomplished through hard work and perseverance. "I've known Trace since we were both committed to Vanderbilt when we were high schoolers," said cornerback Amani Oruwariye, a fellow fifth-year senior. "He's just a guy who kept his head down and worked and waited for his opportu- nity. And when it came, he produced. … He'll definitely go down as one of the best quarterbacks in Penn State history. He'll definitely be known as just a winner, that underdog who everyone doubted who will just prove people wrong." Oruwariye's thinking has everything to do with McSorley's follow-up to his 2016 breakout campaign. Entering the 2017 season with heightened expectations for Barkley and the Nittany Lion offense as a whole, McSorley elevated his play again. He helped lead the Nittany Lions to a 7-0 record and the No. 2 ranking in the country before they dropped back- to-back games at Ohio State and Michi- gan State. But even after the team slipped out of College Football Playoff contention, McSorley continued to shine, winning Fiesta Bowl MVP honors following the Lions' 35-28 victory over the Huskies. McSorley finished his junior season with 3,570 passing yards, the second- highest single-season total ever at Penn State, and he entered the 2018 season rid- ing a streak of 28 games with at least one touchdown pass – a streak he extended to 31 games with scoring tosses to K.J. Ham- ler against both Appalachian State and Pitt and a deep throw to DeAndre Thompkins on Penn State's first posses- sion against Kent State. It's the unknown element – the still-to- be-determined course of McSorley's last few months in a Nittany Lion uniform – that gives offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne pause when asked about McSor- ley's legacy. There's much that can still be accomplished, after all. Rahne said Mc- Sorley will always be remembered as "a kid who has done things the right way, has prepared the way we want all of our players to prepare, and then has gone out T

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