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V S . K E N T U C K Y tacted were understanding. But not all. Said Franklin, "It's hard to explain to a 17- year-old kid about HR and clearing the paperwork and those types of things from a compliance standpoint." The call to McSorley was one of the hard ones. He wasn't sure whether Vanderbilt was still an option, and all the other schools on his list had already filled up their classes by late January. He didn't know what he was going to do, and he wasn't happy with how the whole situa- tion had played out. So when a call from a Pennsylvania area code lit up his phone as he sat in a car outside a friend's house, he wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget. "I was probably a little short on the phone," McSorley recalled. "[Franklin] was just saying, 'Hey, sorry how this all panned out, but we want you to come up here, take a visit. We want you to come play here.' All that kind of stuff. After that phone call, I hung up. I was on my way home. I talked to my parents and we made the trip that weekend. We had a free weekend, so we said, let's just do it." The visit went well. McSorley and his parents were impressed with the school and the football program, and they already knew the coaching staff. At one point, Franklin said to McSorley, "So we're cool now?" They were. McSorley committed to Penn State before heading home, and al- Until the 2000 season, Penn State quarterbacks thrived in what some college football wiseacres might call the dark ages. That was before the advent of high-scoring hurry-up o@enses featuring four- and ?ve-receiver sets. Joe Paterno was old school. He believed in pro-style o@enses in which elite quar- terbacks like Todd Blackledge and Kerry Collins rarely ran the ball intentionally. As college football evolved, so did Paterno. Before the 1996 season, he recruited Parade All-American Rashard Casey of Hoboken, N.Y., but Casey rarely played until his redshirt junior year when he backed up Kevin Thompson. With Thompson sidelined by an injury at the 1999 Alamo Bowl, Casey ?nally started a game and was named the O@ensive MVP aAer leading the Nittany Lions to a 24-0 win over Texas A&M. The next year, Casey exceled as a runner, passer and leader, but the team su@ered its ?rst losing season since 1988. In the years since, Penn State has deployed dual-threat and pro-type quarterbacks. Trace McSorley has become the Nit- tany Lions' greatest dual-threat quarterback of all time in his three years as starter, but four other players need to be cited here: MICHAEL ROBINSON At the end of Robinson's career, Paterno called him "one of the strongest leaders" he had ever coached. Robinson's versatility allowed him to play as a running back, and he didn't become the start- ing QB until his senior year, following Zack Mills' graduation. In 2005, he was the prime force behind the rejuvenation of the Lions aAer two consecutive losing seasons. They ?nished No. 3 in the nation that year, wining the Big Ten title and Orange Bowl with an 11-1 record. Robinson, second in team rushing that year with 806 yards and 11 TDs while passing for 2,350 yards and 17 TDs, was as tough as McSorley on the ?eld and seemed to relish banging into would-be tacklers. DARYLL CLARK Clark had to wait his turn behind pro-style quarterback Anthony Morelli. In his two starting years (2008 and '09), he rose to No. 4 in career total o@ense with 6,361 yards. He threw for 5,742 yards and ranks second behind Mc- Sorley in TDs responsible for, totaling 65 in his career, includ- ing 22 that he scored on runs. Although he had his most impressive statistical year as a senior, he will be best remem- bered for leading Penn State to the Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl in 2008. ZACK MILLS If not for a knee injury midway through his redshirt junior year of 2003 that forced him to miss nearly three games and seemed to reduce his speed and mobility, Mills might have rivaled McSorley at the top of this list. He was impressive as a redshirt fresh- man, starting in four games and coming o@ the bench to win three more games. Mills and Tony Sacca are the only quarterbacks ever to lead the Lions in passing all four years. He is still No. 3 in career total o@ense with 7,796 yards, including 7,212 yards and 44 TDs passing. RICHIE LUCAS Lucas was a dual-threat quarterback before his time and one of two Penn State QBs (along with Chuck Fusina) to ?nish second in the Heisman Trophy balloting. Taking his snaps from under center and calling his own plays, Lucas was the backup in 1958 and starter in '59 when he earned the nick- name "Riverboat Richie" for his impromptu running. He amassed 1,939 yards of total o@ense during those two seasons, an outstanding performance for that era . –LOU PRATO Recalling Penn State's other great dual-threat quarterbacks L O U ' S V I E W • P E N N S T A T E H I S T O R Y TWO OF A KIND Robinson (left) and Mills pose for photos at Penn State's football media day in 2004. Photo by Greg Grieco

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