Blue White Illustrated

A T T H E 2 0 1 6 N I T T A N Y L I O N S Franklin said their experience playing be- hind Hackenberg has enabled them "to learn from all the things that Christian has done well and learn from some things that they may do differently based on their skill sets." Those differences are significant. And with a brand new offensive coordinator in charge, it's an open race. TRACE McSORLEY HT 6-0 WT 196 HOME Ashburn, Va. Joe Moorhead values ac- curacy over arm strength, but he also puts a premium on his quar- terback's ability to run. "Either by design, or if the play breaks down," he said. All three of PSU's candidates possess athletic ability that aligns with Moor- head's philosophy, but if there's a true dual-threat player in the trio, it's Mc- Sorley. Having appeared in seven games, he's also the only one who has seen live action. Prior to the bowl game, he had performed mop-up duty in lopsided vic- tories against Rutgers and Indiana, taken a snap against Maryland when Hacken- berg had to leave for a play, orchestrated two possessions in a win against Illinois, attempted one pass against Michigan and taken charge for the final two possessions in a blowout loss at Michigan State. In that span, he completed 6 of 13 passes for 43 yards. Then came the TaxSlayer Bowl, in which McSorley took over midway through the second quarter and nearly led the Lions back from a three-touchdown deficit. He finished with 14 completions in 27 at- tempts for 142 yards, with touchdown passes to Geno Lewis and DaeSean Hamil- ton in the fourth quarter. In assessing the quarterbacks, McSor- ley's sample size is more extensive than that of Stevens and Zembiec, but it's still too small to use as the basis for any sweeping conclusions. However, his team- mates have seen much more of him than the public has to date, and they have de- scribed him as a strong leader with a penchant for making plays under duress. "You wouldn't expect him to be as con- fident as he is, especially for his size," Hamilton said. "But when he goes out there, nothing fusses him. He's comfort- able out there, and we have all the faith in him when he's out there in the huddle with us. We know he's able to go out there and get the job done." The knock would be that McSorley's height could potentially hold him back. As points of reference, Army's A.J. Schurr was the only opposing QB in 2015 who was 6-foot-0 or shorter, and there were no QBs in the Big Ten shorter than 6-1. But Hamilton suggests that McSorley has other skills that he can draw on to offset his height disadvantage. "He's a field general out there, you can tell," Hamilton said. "The only thing is, people might underestimate him because of his size, but he's still able to go out there and he's able to execute for us and make plays for us in practice." TOMMY STEVENS HT 6-4 WT 211 HOME Indianapolis, Ind. Stevens cracked the No. 3 spot on Penn State's depth chart as a true freshman, but his only public appearance of 2015 was in the Blue-White Game, in which he completed 3 of 11 passes for 19 yards and had two carries for 9 yards. In practice, however, leading the for- eign-team offense against PSU's defensive starters, Stevens has steadily developed his own reputation as a passer with an overtop throwing motion and a sneaky ability to gain yards with his feet. He led the foreign-team offense against the first- team defense throughout the fall, impress- ing Franklin, who described him as a drop- back quarterback who can also "take off and run around." The coaching staff took advantage of Stevens' versatility by using him to help the defense prepare for seven dual-threat QBs throughout the fall. New Penn State offensive coordina- tor Joe Moorhead was a quarterback himself before getting into coaching. He was a senior starter at Pittsburgh Central Catholic and a three-year starter at Fordham, setting school records for completions and passing yards and winning second-team All- Patriot League honors in 1995. Moorhead has since developed a rep- utation as a quarterback guru, and among his recent pupils was Ford- ham's Mike Nebrich, the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year in 2013 and '14. What does Moorhead look for in a quarterback? To an extent, he looks for the same qualities everyone else is seeking. "The physical traits are obvious," he said. "You have the position-specific things, such as height and weight and speed. Obviously, you have to have a strong arm, but accuracy is probably more important to me." But he's also looking for skills that are specific to the kind of offense he wants to run. "Our quarterback is go- ing to have to be athletic and will have to make plays with his feet, either by design or if the play breaks down," he said. "Our pass game [will have] roots in the West Coast offense, [and] our quarterback will have things to look at with protection and pre-snap recogni- tion in the run game and pass game, and then also in the post-snap reads." And then there are the intangibles, the most important of which is leader- ship. Moorhead said that, ideally, his starting QB will exude confidence. "When he walks in the room, you don't have to ask if he's the quarterback." It remains to be seen how well Penn State's current quarterbacks fit that template, but Moorhead is eager to find out. Said the veteran coach, "I'm excited to see what these guys can do." –M.H. Moorhead seeks athletic playmaker

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