Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L > > seasons he played at Brookline (Mass.) High and later Fairfax (Va.) High, during which he starred on offense, defense and special teams. "That's really a play that the coaches sort of had tagged for me. We also did the halfback pass against San Diego State," gaining 32 yards on a com- pletion to Chris Godwin. "The key to a play like that is that you have to sell the run," Scott continued. "We ran the toss a couple of times to Saquon Barkley, so our coaches were watching to see what their safeties were doing when Christian Hackenberg rolled out. They weren't respecting him on the rollout, so they called it and I put it toward the sideline so Hackenberg wouldn't get hit." It was only the third touchdown pass in the past three seasons at Penn State by someone other than Hackenberg, and it was hardly the only big play by a freshman that afternoon. Redshirt freshman Troy Reeder intercepted a pass in the first quarter and returned it 44 yards to set up a touch- down. And later, one of Reeder's classmates, Koa Farmer, returned the second-half kickoff 57 yards to set the stage for the Scott-to-Hackenberg gadget play. Also, Barkley supplied the Nittany Lions with 84 rushing yards and a spectacular leaping TD, a play that coach James Franklin later described as "that R. Kelly 'I Believe I Can Fly' play down in the red zone." As a team, the Nittany Lions may not be flying exactly, but they are at least taxi- ing toward the runway, and the momentum they've built has been due in large part to the many contributions they've gotten from the first-year players in their past two recruiting classes. A few of them – players such as Barkley and Reeder – have been starters, every-down players who are either on the fast track to stardom or, in Barkley's case, are already there. Others have played situational roles, throwing halfback option passes as Scott has done a few times or running jet sweeps as wide- out Brandon Polk has done. Is this a surprise? Not really. When he arrived at Penn State last year, Franklin promised that the best players would play, regardless of their class standing, and he's been as good as his word. Circumstances have forced his hand in some instances, but he and his staff have recruited players who were prepared to contribute early in their careers, and now those players are getting that chance. "We wouldn't be playing any of these guys if we felt like they were significantly deficient in any area, if we felt like mentally they weren't ready to play or emotionally they weren't ready to play or physically they weren't ready to play," Franklin said. "We all have strengths and weaknesses, but we felt like all those guys bring enough to the table that it was in our best interest as an organization to play them, as well as their best interest. Every decision we make is really based upon that: No. 1, what's the best interest of the team? Then, No. 2, what's in the best interest of the individual?" Those interests have dovetailed nicely so far, and it's reflected in the statistics. In the backfield, the Nittany Lions' leading rusher is a true freshman, and of the seven players who have totaled more than 10 carries this season, five are in their first season of eligibility. Elsewhere on offense, the backup quarterback is a redshirt fresh- man, and three of the eight receivers listed on the official depth chart are freshmen. Through 10 games, nearly half of the team's offensive touchdowns (14 of 30, or 46.7 percent) had been scored by freshmen. On defense, one of the team's two in- terception leaders through 10 games was a true freshman, and four of its top 20

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