Blue White Illustrated

L eading Army by only six points at rain-soaked Beaver Stadium last October, Penn State was seeking an offensive spark as the final seconds of the third quarter ticked away. Unable to sustain any discernible success, facing a second-and-1 situation at their own 17-yard line, the Nittany Lions decided the time was right to take a shot downfield. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg dropped back, and with the pocket free of Black Knight pass rushers, he unloaded a cannon blast down the middle of the field. Traveling 50 yards in the air, the pass appeared to float just beyond the grasp of Chris Godwin as the sophomore wideout tried to disentangle himself from Army cornerback Chris Carnegie. But with Carnegie reaching desperately for the ball, Godwin managed to fluidly leap from his right leg, extend both arms and haul in the pass with all 10 fingertips. Emerging from the two-man scrum at the opposite 32-yard line, Godwin pointed forward, preempting the back judge's first down signal. Reflecting on his sophomore season's 69 receptions for 1,101 yards – good enough for second-team All-Big Ten hon- ors – that 49-yard catch now stands apart from the rest for Godwin. Certainly, its difficulty required an elite skill level. And the fact that it came at a crucial point in the game, setting up a touchdown that would prove to be the winner, magnified its importance. In its basest form, though, that catch and the entirety of his second season as a Nittany Lion represent positive reinforce- ment to the work ethic that has brought Godwin this far. "It helps when you're able to see all your hard work come to fruition," he said. "Me having the year that I was able to have last year will help me this year because I saw that the hard work that I put in before last season paid off. When things pay off, you tend to want to go ahead and work more to make it happen again." Further propelled by his second standout postseason performance in as many years – he racked up six catches for 133 yards in a 24-17 loss to Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl – Godwin has been using that atti- tude as his guiding principle this spring as the program transitions into a new era. Gone are Hackenberg, veteran receiver Geno Lewis, lineman Angelo Mangiro, of- fensive line coach Herb Hand and coor- dinator John Donovan, among others. All were critical components of the Nittany Lions' offensive identity for at least the | CHANGE IN THE AIR Now a veteran leader, junior WR Chris Godwin helps boost the Lions' new-look oense COVER STORY

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