Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> goals. … But obviously, this past year was a little bit different." After he got off to an uplifting start in 2018 by declaring during the spring that he would not seek a transfer to another school, Stevens' hopes for an impactful season began to fade. The problem? An injury to his right foot that put him in a walking boot and forced him to use a medical scooter to get around. The setback prevented Stevens from participating in spring practice or the Blue-White Game. And although he was working with the other quarterbacks when preseason practice began, he was back in the walking boot and on crutches before the end of camp, ultimately miss- ing the first four games of the season. Stevens returned to action against Ohio State in late September, but his break- through didn't come for another month. With Penn State trailing Iowa, 14-7, on a rainy October afternoon at Beaver Sta- dium, McSorley was injured early in the second quarter and Stevens was called on to take over. He rushed for a 3-yard touchdown to even the score, then engi- neered a four-play, 31-yard field goal drive, as the teams headed into halftime tied, 17-17. Feeling truly in charge of the Nittany Lion offense, Stevens told him- self, "It's my team now. I'm going to do everything that I can in this position to give us the best chance to win." But Franklin felt that McSorley had earned the right to decide whether he was healthy enough to play, and after testing his injured leg on the sideline, the senior quarterback told the staff he could move around well enough to go back in the game. He played the whole second half, lifting the Lions to a 30-24 victory. Stevens finished with two completions in four attempts for 27 yards, and he ran for 18 yards on five carries, all in the sec- ond quarter. Franklin praised him after the game, calling him "the ultimate team guy." But the experience left him with mixed emotions. While it felt good to contribute to a victory, his appearance had been tantalizingly brief. "I didn't want to make it seem like I was by any means happy that Trace got hurt or unhappy to see him come back," Stevens said. "But there was a part of me that was like, it's time. You've been waiting [this] long. You've been put through all this dif- ferent adversity. You came here to play quarterback. People were saying you weren't going to be good enough in high school. People were saying you're not going to be good enough to win the job [at Penn State]. All those things are coming together, and here it is. It's finally here. You get a chance. … And then it's turned off. So that was tough. It really was." The rest of Stevens' redshirt junior sea- son wasn't much better. He threw an inter- ception at Michigan when the ball slipped out of his hand, and after the Lions' lop- sided defeat in Ann Arbor he attempted only two passes the rest of the year. He did- n't travel to the Citrus Bowl, opting instead to undergo surgery to deal with an unspec- ified injury. For the season, he completed 8 of 11 attempts for 110 yards and a touch- down to go along with his two receptions and 28 carries for 118 yards and two scores. This spring, Stevens is healthy and ready to compete. He's embracing his personal history and the different turns he's taken along the way. "I've definitely learned a lot. If we would have had this interview last year, I would have told you that I was learning patience and all those sorts of things. But I'd say even more so now," Stevens said. "Not everything is going to happen how you pic- ture it happening. That's life. That's how it works. But that shouldn't ever change the way you work… and I always kept going." Excited about his potential as a starting quarterback, Stevens said he believes he's prepared to confront the challenge that awaits him. And, in some ways, it's one he has spent the past four years preparing to take on. "I wouldn't change the things that have happened to me. It's shaped me into this version of myself. And I have gotten bet- ter from it this way. And who knows? I think things happen for a reason. Maybe I wasn't ready then," Stevens said. "It is pressure. At the same time, as much as it is pressure, it is equally, if not more, ex- citement that I'm finally getting this chance. And I've never been more ready than I am right now." ■ A young and inexperienced Penn State receiver corps got two pieces of good news in February. The 9rst was the announcement by former Florida State wideout George Campbell that he would be joining the Nittany Lions as a graduate transfer. A former Rivals.com 9ve-star prospect from Tarpon Springs, Fla., Campbell was slowed by injury problems during his four years in Tallahassee. He excelled on special teams as a true freshman in 2015 but missed the following season with an injury that forced him to take a med- ical redshirt. As a sophomore in 2017, he played in only four games before su:ering another season-ending in- jury. Last season, the 6-foot-4, 207- pound Campbell played in seven games and made one start but 9n- ished the year with only four recep- tions for 36 yards. He 9nished his Florida State career with 13 catches for 206 yards. In other news, the Lions will not be losing Cam Sullivan-Brown, as the sophomore receiver recently with- drew his name from the NCAA transfer portal. A;er a redshirt freshman season in which he caught four passes for 49 yards, Sullivan- Brown last month became the third Penn State wideout to enter the por- tal, joining Juwan Johnson and Bran- don Polk. But while Johnson is headed to Oregon and Polk had not announced a transfer destination as of early March, Sullivan-Brown is back with the Nittany Lions. ■ Transfer bolsters Lions' receiver corps

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