Penn State Sports Magazine
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2 0 1 6 P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L KEY PERSONNEL Trace McSorley, Billy Fessler, Tommy Stevens, Jake Zembiec LOSSES Christian Hackenberg* RISING STAR When you're as in- experienced as Penn State is at QB this year, everything is relative. So while McSorley would ordinarily take this honor on the heels of his strong showings in the TaxSlayer Bowl and the Blue-White Game, the redshirt sophomore is actually the closest thing the Nittany Lions have to a proven veteran. That makes Stevens the rising star. A redshirt freshman, he looked just as com- posed as McSorley when he took charge of the Blue offense in the spring game, hitting 3 of 3 passes for 52 yards to lead the starters on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive. Coach James Franklin said that when he develops a better feel for his reads and progressions, Stevens will be well positioned to see playing time. "That's where I think he'll make the biggest improvement," Franklin said. "There may be times when he goes to the wrong side of the field in his progression, but he still throws completions. How much better is he going to be when mentally he's on pace with where he is physically?" BIGGEST LOSS Do we even have to say his name? Hackenberg fin- ished his three-year career as Penn State's all-time leader in passing at- tempts (1,235), completions (693), yardage (8,457) and touchdowns (48), among other records. A two- year captain, he started 38 consecu- tive games, beginning with the Nit- tany Lions' 2013 opener against Syracuse and ending with their TaxSlayer Bowl appearance vs. Georgia. In addition to his on-field legacy, he made an off-field impact that will not soon be forgotten. It was the five-star QB, along with four-star tight end Adam Breneman, who proved that Penn State hadn't lost its recruiting allure in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, holding true to their verbal commitments in the wake of the NCAA's devastating sanctions four years ago. NUMBERS GAME Thanks to Hackenberg, the quarterback posi- tion was a source of both experience and continuity the past two years. Now that he's gone, the Lions have >> QUARTERBACK NO NAME YR HT WT 9 Trace McSorley R-So. 6-0 201 2 Tommy Stevens R-Fr. 6-4 215 7 Jake Zembiec Fr. 6-3 205 16 Billy Fessler R-So. 5-11 188 PHIL'S TAKE Even though Trace Mc- Sorley had an outstanding Blue-White Game performance, he has not completely wrapped up the starting quarterback job over Tommy Stevens. The good news here is that McSorley and Stevens seemed to be perfectly suited for Joe Moorhead's up- tempo West Coast passing game. It's a completely new system for Penn State's offense. There is some concern about whether the Lions will be three- deep, as January enrollee Jake Zembiec missed a large portion of spring practice with a shoulder problem. TOMMY STEVENS Steve Manuel hire was announced and came across a video on YouTube that Moorhead had made as head coach at Fordham in which he explained the concepts behind his offense. "Once I looked into it," McSorley said, "I got real excited." It also helped that McSorley was familiar with Michael Nebrich, a fellow northern Vir- ginia native who had played for Moorhead at Connecticut and Fordham and had developed into an FCS All-American with the Rams. "He was a guy I looked up to going into my freshman year of high school," McSorley said. "I had always envisioned myself playing like him, so being able to see that he had the suc- cess he had at Fordham was really comforting to me. This guy I had looked up to in high school was successful in Coach Moorhead's offense. It was a cool thing to see that." This spring McSorley said the offense de- veloped quickly, thanks in part to the work that players had done in January and February. "The whole offense did a really good job all through the winter of coming in and getting into the playbook as soon as we could," he said. "Once we got into spring practice, we hit the ground rolling and didn't have a big learning curve. We had tried to make the learning curve happen in the winter, as op- posed to day one of spring practice." Now that summer is here, the quarterbacks are getting together twice a week with team- mates to work on their timing. The offensive players include center Brian Gaia and several other linemen, as well as wideouts DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin and running back Saquon Barkley. The defensive players include linebackers Jason Cabinda and Bran- don Bell, safety Malik Golden and cornerback Grant Haley. And as for the decision that McSorley, Stevens and all of Penn State fandom are awaiting? It's the one facet of the Nittany Lions' offense that isn't moving at light speed, with the coaches insisting they will take as much time as necessary to make the right call. But if Mc- Sorley has shown anything, it's that he's not easily rattled, so he sounds entirely in character when he says he's cool with that. "I can't control the competition itself, but I can control how I approach it," he said. "[It's about] com- peting every day, and at the end of the day, whoever wins it will be the best one for the job. I'm excited for it." ■ OR