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But if it hadn't been for Apke's consistent improvement – along with his natural athleticism – the coaches wouldn't have felt as comfortable plugging him in and burning his redshirt seven games into the year. "Troy is an extremely athletic kid, very explosive, fast," cornerbacks coach Terry Smith said. "He has very good size. He's also a bright kid, and he's going to bring added athleticism to us. He's working really hard in practice to get caught up in his special teams assignments and his secondary assignments. He just brings a wealth of athleticism." TRACE McSORLEY QB, 6-0, 193 The Nittany Lions were in Ireland preparing for their season opener against UCF when James Franklin named McSorely the team's No. 2 quarterback. Although he'd been on campus for less than three months, McSorely had already displayed a good grasp of the playbook. Franklin said he "picked things up really well mentally. He always seems cool, calm and collected and con0dent. He made a lot of really big throws [in preseason camp], and we haven't really factored in yet what he brings to the game with his feet, which is a huge dimension of his game." McSorely has been on the travel squad all season and can o2en be seen wearing a ball cap and a headset on the sideline during games. He's technically Christian Hackenberg's backup, although redshirt freshman D.J. Crook 0lled in during mop-up duty vs. Massachusetts in order to preserve McSorley's redshirt. If, however, Hackenberg were unable to continue playing and a game was on the line, Franklin said McSorley would sub in. Even though the coaches haven't seen him in game action, they've seen enough of him in practice to feel con0dent in his abilities. McSorely gets 0rst- and sec- ond-team snaps nearly every practice – Crook is on the scout team – and is o2en seen making plays with his feet on bootleg rollouts or designed QB keepers. "You guys heard me say during his re- cruitment that he's a winner," Franklin said. "You talk about a guy [who] went to four straight [Virginia] state championship games. All of those things and qualities that we saw when we recruited him showed up [during practice]. And that's not always the case. Usually you don't see it maybe for a year or so. His showed up immedi- ately." AMANI ORUWARIYE CB, 6-1, 198 A2er leaving his home state of Florida in June to come to PSU, Oruwariye was given a year o1 by the coaching sta1 in order to adjust to a Northern school and add some needed weight to his wiry frame. His position coach has already begun to see the move paying o1. "Amani's body has completely changed from the time he came here in the summer until now," Terry Smith said. "He's a big, long corner who is really athletic. I'm really happy with the progress he's making right now." Oruwariye isn't typically on the travel squad. Instead, he spends most of his time on the scout team, o2en mimicking the opponent's best defensive back. Twice this season, he's been named scout team player of the week. Facing Penn State's young but talented receiver group, Oruwariye makes it a challenge on them every day in practice. "His e1ort is tremendous," Smith said. RUNNING IN PLACE Thomas is sitting out this season but will vie for a spot in the backfield next fall with Bill Belton set to graduate. Photo by Tim Owen

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