Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1480138
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 3 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M fer, and Ham accepted. He went on to become a consensus All-America line- backer, second-round NFL Draft pick, eight-time Pro Bowler, four-time Super Bowl champion and an inductee into the college and pro football halls of fame. With his quiet recruitment and bril- liant playing career, Ham is the defini- tive example of a phenomenon that has repeated itself throughout Penn State's football history. The Nittany Lions have been very good over the years at devel- oping relatively unheralded recruits into elite college players. The list of PSU luminaries who were lightly recruited as high school prospects includes former walk-on Deon Butler from Woodbridge, Va., the program's third-leading pass catcher with 179 ca- reer receptions, and Allen Robinson, a three-star player from Southfield, Mich., who ranks fifth in school history with 2,474 receiving yards and has since gone on to become one of the more productive wideouts in the NFL. The trend has continued during the James Franklin coaching era. Franklin's first recruiting class in 2014 included five players who received only three-star rat- ings in the On3 Consensus but are still drawing NFL paychecks in 2022 (quarter- back Trace McSorley, cornerbacks Amani Oruwariye and Grant Haley, linebacker- turned-fullback Jason Cabinda, and safety Troy Apke). Here's a look at the half-dozen most- underrated players in Penn State's past 10 recruiting classes: 1. Trace McSorley Class: 2014 Position: Quarterback On3 Consensus rating: H H H H H H What we said: "With their roster capped at 75 scholarship players in 2014, the Nittany Lions need players who can line up at multiple positions. McSorley fits that bill. On offense, he's a solid dual- threat quarterback. On defense, he had 77 career tackles and eight interceptions. McSorley could be Penn State's third scholarship quarterback behind Christian Hackenberg and Michael O'Connor, but it's also possible he will start his career at free safety." — Phil Grosz What happened next: McSor- ley came to Penn State just a year after Christian Hackenberg's arrival and re- ceived virtually none of the hype that his fellow Virginian had gotten as a true freshman in 2013. Hackenberg had been a consensus five-star prospect, one of the top over- all players in his class, while McSorley was a late addition who had switched his commitment from Vanderbilt to Penn State after James Franklin was hired by the Nittany Lions in mid-January. The three-star prospect from Ashburn, Va., was overshadowed in the 2014 class by heralded Canadian quarterback Michael O'Connor. What little fanfare greeted McSorley's arrival was mostly focused on his potential as a safety. And yet, by the time he wrapped up his career in 2018, there was a strong case to be made for McSorley as the greatest quarterback in Penn State history. After redshirting as a true freshman and backing up Hackenberg the follow- ing year, McSorley became the starter in 2016, just in time to spearhead one of the great comeback seasons in school history. He teamed with running back Saquon Barkley to fuel the Lions' rise to the Big Ten championship, setting a single-sea- son PSU record with 3,614 passing yards and 29 touchdowns in his first year as starter. In 2017, McSorley threw for 3,570 yards, the second-highest single-season total in school history. McSorley finished his career with 9,899 yards passing and 1,697 yards rushing. He ranks first in school history in passing yards and total offense, though current starting quarterback Sean Clif- ford is on pace to pass him in both cat- egories later this year. The keys to McSorley's success at the college level were a fearless attitude and a fierce determination to prove himself to anyone who might doubt that a 6-foot, 201-pound quarterback could thrive at a place like Penn State. He's still proving doubters wrong as he enters his fourth NFL season as a backup quarterback with the Arizona Cardinals. "I don't know if anything has ever come easy to Trace," Franklin said back in 2018, when McSorley was approaching