Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503568
A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 17 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M FIVE YEARS AGO, 2018 After three seasons in which Saquon Barkley served as the centerpiece of their offense, the Nittany Lions had no choice but to move on in 2018. With Barkley off to the NFL as the No. 2 overall draft pick of the New York Giants, Penn State turned to his backup the previous two seasons, Miles Sanders, to re-energize the backfield. Sanders had elicited considerable fan- fare when he arrived at PSU in 2016 as a four-star recruit from Woodland Hills High in Pittsburgh. He had patiently backed up Barkley for two seasons, and hopes were high that the 5-foot-11, 215-pound junior would prove to be a worthy successor. "He's going to be electric for us this year," center Connor McGovern said. "You saw glimpses the past two years. This is going to be the year." Barkley was, of course, a singular tal- ent. He had the potential to put the ball in the end zone from anywhere on the field, and his game-changing potential had consigned Sanders to a limited role to that point in his career. Sanders totaled just 56 carries for 375 yards in his first two seasons, but to hear coach James Franklin tell it, that skimpy résumé was actually one of the reasons to think the young running back was des- tined to break out in 2018. "I know he's hungry. I know he's ex- cited," Franklin said. "He's doing all the right things off the field, and we're big believers that discipline off the field translates on the field. "I think he's going to have a big year." He did indeed. Sanders finished sec- ond in the Big Ten and 15th in the FBS with 1,274 rushing yards and earned the team's offensive MVP honor — a perfor- mance so good that he opted to forgo his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL Draft in 2019. 10 YEARS AGO, 2013 Penn State was a year removed from the dreadful summer of 2012, but in many ways, the headwinds were only intensifying as coach Bill O'Brien pre- pared for his second season. The sanctions that the NCAA had levied the previous July in response to the Sandusky scandal were having a cumulative effect, and in addition to seeing its depth eroded by scholarship reductions, Penn State was getting set to start a true freshman at quarterback. O'Brien was noncommittal at media day when asked about the Nittany Li- ons' choice, but it was widely believed that five-star prospect Christian Hack- enberg would be in charge of the offense when it took the field at Syracuse on opening day. Hackenberg's rival was Tyler Fergu- son, a juco transfer from the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif. Nei- ther had ever taken a snap in an FBS game, nor had any of the three walk- ons brought aboard to bolster the team's depth at the position. Veteran assistant coach Charlie Fisher admitted before the season that he had never worked with a quarterback corps that was entirely devoid of Division I experience. "I can't really say that's been the case for me before," Fisher conceded. "But my job is to coach them and work hard and prepare them. Their job is to come out and work hard every day. That's how we'll ap- proach it, and we'll see how it goes." It went pretty well. Hackenberg started every game and threw for 2,955 yards, the third-highest single-season total in school history. He tossed 20 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions and won the Thompson-Randle El Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. 25 YEARS AGO, 1998 Coming off a late-season flop the year before — it had gone into the campaign ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and ended up No. 16 — Penn State was faced with more muted expectations heading into its 1998 season. The Nittany Lions were 13th in the preseason AP rankings, a reflection of the changes they had made on offense with the departure of running back Cur- tis Enis and quarterback Mike McQueary. Kevin Thompson and Rashard Casey were both vying for snaps at quarter- back, and there was also competition in the backfield between Cordell Mitchell and Eric McCoo. On the opposite side of the ball, the Nittany Lions were bringing back a trio of rising stars in linebackers LaVar Ar- rington and Brandon Short and defensive end Courtney Brown. That threesome would go on to rank 1-2-3 in tackles for the Lions, but the team's middling preseason ranking turned out to be reasonably accurate. Penn State won nine games that year but was outscored 79-12 in losses to Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin and fin- ished 17th in the AP poll. — Matt Herb This Month In Penn State Athletics History After playing a limited role in his first two years on campus, Miles Sanders was set to become the Lions' primary ball carrier in 2018. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL