Blue White Illustrated

ames Franklin had said a few weeks earlier that he wanted to get this whole drama over with as quickly as possible. He wanted, ideally, to give Penn State's new starting quarterback a chance to get acclimated and begin ex- erting leadership. That meant making a choice as soon as it seemed prudent to do so. "The more you have settled going into summer," he said, "the better." As far as many onlookers were proba- bly concerned, the matter was settled at about 3 p.m. April 16. That's when Blue quarterback Trace McSorley took a shotgun snap, glanced to his right as tailback Mark Allen dri5ed out of the back2eld, then turned his head back to- ward the middle of the 2eld and 3icked a pass to DeAndre Thompkins just as the sophomore receiver was breaking free of three White defenders. McSorley dropped the ball into Thompkins' arms, and he scooted into the end zone un- touched for a 35-yard score. It was Mc- Sorley's 23rd completion in 27 attempts to that point in the Blue-White Game, and his fourth touchdown pass of the af- ternoon. All in all, not a bad day's work. McSorley's connection with Thomp- kins was exactly the sort of moment that Penn State fans had been hoping to see a5er two seasons of o4ensive lethargy, an indication that not only have the Nittany Lions devised an of- fensive system capable of producing more than the 21.9 points per game they averaged in Franklin's 2rst two years but that they have a starting quarterback with the tools to exe- cute it. But with redshirt fresh- man Tommy Stevens in con- tention with McSor- ley for the starting job, was it a decisive moment? Not exactly. "Tommy has a lot of ability and is going to be in this battle till the end," Franklin said following the game, which was won by the starter- laden Blue, 37-0. "I don't think it's fair to this football team and I don't think it's fair to Tommy right now to name a starter when I think Tommy can close the gap between now and [preseason practice]. That's also going to create a competitive edge in our locker room and keep Trace working, because he's got a lot of areas to improve as well. "So we'll go into camp, we'll let those guys compete and see what happens. But right now, I feel like we've got two quarterbacks we can win with." That last bit – We've got two quarterbacks we can win with – was the pull- out quote from Penn State's spring game. The usual Blue-White caveats still apply, of course, the most notable being that PSU's 2rst- team o4ense won't be facing any second- team defenses the rest of the way. As is always the case when watching HURRY UP AND WAIT J PSU's fast-paced new o#ense looks sharp, but James Franklin is in no rush to answer a looming question: Who's the QB?

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