Blue White Illustrated

T I M   O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M A U G U S T   3 1 ,   2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 9 NEW AND IMPROVED Mike Gesicki is getting down to business as he prepares for his junior season Coach James Franklin recently de- scribed Mike Gesicki's approach to pre- season practice as "businesslike." The junior tight end seems to concur with that assessment. "I think my freshman year, you know, I was just having fun with everything. I'm not saying I'm not having fun with it now, but right now I'd say I'm a completely different guy," Gesicki said. "I'm a completely different player on the field. I attack everything differ- ently. I'm much more focused and de- termined to reach my full potential. I can almost promise that you won't be seeing me dancing on Saturday before the game or anything like that, like I was my freshman year, because I have a mindset and an understanding of where I want to be when that game is over with and the performance I want to show. I'd say I've matured and grown up. Not saying anything I was doing in the past was wrong, I just have a new mindset." During a Tuesday morning conference call with Penn State beat reporters, Gesicki discussed the Nittany Lions' outlook at tight end this season. Here are some excerpts from that conversa- tion: On the perspective that new posi- tion coach Ricky Rahne has brought to the tight ends: Coach Rahne has been everything that you could ask for in a tight ends coach. He has coached tight ends before. He's obviously coached quarterbacks before, so I think he brings a different perspective that's different than any another coach. I think he's kind of seen both sides of it, both from a receiving end, from a blocking end but then also from the other side of the ball: where it's coming from, how to get open, all that kind of stuff. So I think he's done a great job. He's really focusing on the little things, rather than just getting the job done, but everything that leads up to you exit- ing that job on that specific play. Coach Rahne has done a great job with all of us. He's a great guy. He has us over to his house for dinner. He just welcomes us in. I'm happy to have him as our coach and I'm happy to play for him on Saturday. On the importance of looking for- ward: I'm extremely excited for Sat- urday. I put last season in the past once I got on the plane [after the bowl game]. I feel like a lot of people haven't, but that's not really impor- tant to me. What's important to me is how I feel about this season and how excited I am for this upcoming Satur- day and many other Saturdays that we have this season. I think, not only my- self, but every guy on the team has worked extremely hard and we're looking forward to showing that off on Saturday. On the team's increased depth as the scholarship roster approaches 85 players again: I think it's beginning to show. I think every guy on the team kind of accepts their role. Whether you're a walk-on guy, a scholarship guy, a starter or a backup, it doesn't matter. You don't really come out and look across and say this guy's on scholarship and this guy's not. It's not like that. We're just one team, one family. … I think it helps us with depth. Our scout team has done a great job for the past [several weeks]. I think they've done a great job, and that kind of shows that those extra scholar- ship are helping in building our depth and building our competition. On watching tape of the Fordham offense to learn Joe Moorhead's sys- tem: The whole teach tape was the Fordham offense, obviously, because that's all that we had to look at. Every time we saw a new play come in, or a new set or a new formation or anything like that, the tight end was heavily in- volved, which was reassuring for our position group and something to be ex- tremely excited about moving forward. Spring ball kind of went exactly how we all wanted it to, and we all got better. Now that the offense is fully in and that kind of stuff. I think to be a tight end in this offense you have to be really excited about it and you have to be looking at it from a positive viewpoint. You have to be pa- tient with this offense. You have to be willing to block, and when you're asked to run a route and get open and make a play, I think you have to be excited about that and go out there and do what exactly you're asked to do. On Trace McSorley's growth as a quarterback: Trace obviously has done a phenomenal job with going out there and making plays with both his feet and with his arm. He's done a great job of understanding the playbook and being smart with his decisions and all that kind of stuff. Trace and I have con- nected on a bunch of plays this camp, and I'm looking forward to the season to continue that. Trace has always been a hard-working guy. He's always wanted to learn more, be a student of the game, and I think he sat behind somebody who really taught him how to be the next leader of that certain position group at Penn State. Sitting behind Hack the last two years was definitely beneficial for him. Being his roommate the night before the games and going through the prepara- tion pages with Hack can only be bene- ficial for Trace.

• Cover