Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/575323
NEWS & NOTES It was going to be one of the greatest days of his sports career. After attending high school in the Scranton area, then heading to Penn State in 2012 as a four- star linebacker prospect, Nyeem Wart- man-White was going home. Wartman-White had been born in Philadelphia and spent his first 15 years there, living all over the city, from South Philly to Juniata Park to Frankford. But when he was in the eighth grade, his stepfather took a construction job in the Scranton area, and the family headed north. It was there, in the Lackawanna Conference, that Wartman-White de- veloped into one of the best high school football players in Pennsylvania. He be- came an All-State linebacker at Valley View, finishing his career with a school- record 387 tackles. But even though he never played a minute of competitive football while living in Philadelphia – and might never have taken up the sport if he'd stayed – he cited his home city as the inspiration for his career. "I think about that all the time. I prob- ably would have never played football," he said, musing about what might have happened to him if his family hadn't moved. "But I remember at some points when I lived in Philadelphia, I could ac- tually see the Linc from where I lived. I'd never played a football game in my life, but I knew I loved football at that time. It was a dream to play in the Linc." That dream came true in Penn State's 2015 season opener; Wartman-White was the starting middle linebacker when the Nittany Lions opened their season against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field. But in the second quar- ter, the dream turned nightmar- ish. The redshirt junior, one of the F O O T B A L L Injuries force Nittany Lions to improvise UNHAPPY HOMECOMING Wartman-White receives atten- tion from med- ical staffers fol- lowing his injury against Temple in Penn State's season opener. Photo by Steve Manuel |