Blue White Illustrated

itting in a sophomore-level social studies class at Decatur Central High School fewer than four years ago, Tommy Stevens had what might best be described as a moment of clarity. The teacher, Justin Dixson, was also the school's varsity football coach, and as Stevens daydreamed about the season he had just completed, a feeling of urgency washed over him. He had lost a preseason quarterback competition, broken his pinky finger while playing wide receiver, and had gotten owned for a game at tight end before finally winning the QB job. He needed some direction. "I've got two years to do something," Stevens told himself, "or I'm never going to play football again." The thought jolted him. He had played football for as long as he could remember, and his dad, Tom Stevens, had been an outside linebacker. It didn't seem possible that his playing career could come to a close by the end of his senior season at the suburban Indianapolis high school. But at the time, Stevens' film said otherwise. A thin, 5-foot-8 freshman in high school, Stevens lined up on both sides of the ball but couldn't find permanent residence at any one position. He spent most of his time at safety but also played the wing in Decatur's version of a service academy wishbone scheme. Shooting to 6-foot-2 by his sophomore year, Stevens was finally given an opportunity at quarterback to close out the season. Yet, as the starter in the team's final three games, the results were mixed. "I had my growing pains and spurts," he said. "My first game wasn't very good at all." Sitting in his dorm room at Penn State four years later, one redshirt season into his career as a Nittany Lion quarterback, Stevens will occasionally reflect on the experiences that have brought him to this point. "It's funny, because I go back and watch high school film. If I get bored I'll go back and watch it," he said. "I don't dare go back to watch my sophomore film because I was pretty bad as a sophomore. I think if anybody would have put on the film and said, 'This guy's going to play at Penn State one day,' nobody in the room would have believed you. I was bad." Maybe so, but he's looking a lot more plausible now. Following a Blue- White Game performance in which Stevens completed 10 of 17 passes for 100 yards, head coach James Franklin said the redshirt freshman had every reason to believe he could play – and maybe even start – for Penn State this fall. GETTING UP TO SPEED Redshirt freshman Tommy Stevens works to master the Lions' o%ense S FOOTBALL |

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