Blue White Illustrated

P O S T S E A S O N P R E V I E W >> P E N N season due to an injury he re- ceived in practice in September. In addition to the fifth-year players from Franklin's first re- cruiting class, Penn State's sen- ior day included salutes to Joe Arcangelo, Ryan Buchholz, Jake Cooper, Frank Di Leo, Donnell Dix, Sterling Jenkins, Tyler Shoop, Charlie Shuman, Zach Simpson, Kyle Vasey, Jason Vranic and Christopher Welde. During the past four seasons, the members of this year's de- parting senior class helped the Nittany Lions go 38-14 and claim a Big Ten championship. It's the school's winningest class since 2011. The seniors in that class won 38 games during the 2008, '09, '10 and '11 seasons. Taking into account only the past three seasons, Penn State has gone 31-8, equaling its highest three-year win total since the start of the Big Ten era in 1993. And that total looks even more impressive when you put it in context. When Franklin's first class signed its letters of intent in February 2014, the Nittany Lions were still dealing with the fallout from the NCAA sanctions. The team didn't have enough schol- arship players to fill out a backup offensive line, and it was still banned from attending bowl games. But less than three years after the Class of 2014 ar- rived, the Lions were playing in the Rose Bowl. Scott was asked recently how he wants his class to be remem- bered. He said he hopes that he and his fellow seniors go down as players who "took care of their business on the field as well as off the field and also were a huge part of this growing process, this rebuilding process of putting Penn State back as a top contender or in the conver- sation each year." Franklin echoed that senti- ment when he reflected on the impact that this year's seniors have had on the program. "Look at what they've been able to accomplish at Penn State," he said. "They came to Penn State at a very tough time – we all did – and they really battled and worked like crazy to work through it. You look at their record, this senior class, and I think all things considered, it's maybe one of the most im- pressive senior classes in school history. You look at what this senior class has been able to do in the Big Ten era. If you just take the Big Ten era, if you look at what they've been able to do over the past three years, it's pretty impressive. I do think there's an awareness and an ap- preciation for what these guys have been able to do over their time here." After the Nittany Lions de- feated Maryland on senior day, 38-3, McSorley, Farmer, Scott, Oruwariye and Allen took a lap around Beaver Stadium, just to soak up the atmosphere one last time. It had been Farmer's idea. His father, Jamal Farmer, had done the same years earlier after his last game as a running back at Cal State Northridge. The Nittany Lion seniors still have one game ahead of them, a matchup with Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl, but there was a sense of finality that night in Beaver Stadium. McSorley called the victory lap "something to be able to remi- nisce on with everything we've been through, taking all the memories in – that first time we were in the stadium, going back to camp our freshman year in the stadium and to our actual first game there, looking back on everything that we've done. This group of guys, we fought hard every single day and worked our butts off to bring this program back to a spot where it can com- pete for championships." ■

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