Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/703041
2 0 1 6 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L FAST FORWARD Trace McSorley gets ready to make his move | race McSorley does not waste time. Not on the football field. Not in life. That's a useful quality, because the offense that McSorley and fellow quar- terback Tommy Stevens are vying to lead this fall is predicated on speed. Installed by new coordinator Joe Moorhead in the spring and orchestrated to near-perfection by McSorley in the Blue-White Game, the new scheme is all about increasing velocity and eliminating drag. It's meant to leave opposing defenses breathless in every sense of the word, and while it's only been tested against one defense so far, the results have been encouraging. "I'm real excited about the tempo that we've been playing with," McSorley said. "In some of our practices, some of our defensive guys were having to take them- selves out. They were getting sick because they were just tired. When you see that happening, you know – now we've got 'em. It's just a huge confidence boost, es- pecially for our offensive line and running backs, when they look over and see de- fensive guys with their hands on their hips or bending over because they're tired. That's a huge benefit for us as an offense." McSorley may be just the person to help the Nittany Lions reap those benefits. As the redshirt sophomore demonstrated throughout spring practice, he's got the decisiveness that Moorhead's offense de- mands. He keeps his eyes downfield and is capable of slinging accurate passes to a variety of targets, or, as a last resort, bailing out of a collapsing pocket and making something happen on his own. His numbers from the spring game – 23 completions in 27 attempts for 281 yards and four touchdowns, with only one in- terception – speak to how much progress he made after only a few months in Moor- head's system. If his performance wasn't sufficient to assure him of the starting spot – coach James Franklin said in April that Stevens "has a lot of ability and is going to be in this battle until the end" – it was more than enough to create some excitement about the Nittany Lion offense after two years of red-zone misadventures, three-and-outs, sacks and punts. And McSorley's penchant for working fast applies not just to his on-field efforts but to his career arc as well. As a freshman quarterback at Briar Woods High in Ashburn, Va., he had to grow up in a hurry after injuries magnified his role. The coaches developed a few workarounds to make up for his inexpe- rience – for instance, other players would call plays in the huddle – but when the Falcons won the Virginia Class 5A title, McSorley was the starting QB, finishing off a debut season in which he threw for 2,201 yards and 19 touchdowns. It was the first of four consecutive state cham- pionship game appearances for the team, Q U A R T E R B A C K S AIRING IT OUT McSorley was ef- fective in his past two game appear- ances, tossing a pair of touchdown passes against Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl and ripping the White defense in a 281- yard, four-TD per- formance in the Blue-White Game. Photo by Steve Manuel T