Blue White Illustrated

LAST WORD 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 race McSorley sure can sling them, can't he? In 2016, he did it better than anyone in the country, anyone in school history, and because of his all- or-nothing style I'm still not sure if his role in Penn State's resurgence is appre- ciated the way it should be. It was the hallmark of this season, making the Nittany Lions' remarkable run all the more climatic. McSorley was the single biggest difference between the stale, largely ineffective offense of the past couple of seasons and the lively one that our eyeballs pleasantly ab- sorbed throughout the year. But in the end, the same high-risk, air-it-out ap- proach that transformed the Lions into one of the Big Ten's highest-scoring of- fenses is what cost McSorley and his Nittany Lions on their final drive in the Rose Bowl. It's also what has kept some observers from totally buying into what McSorley has to sell. Fresh off three seasons in which it had a 6-foot-4, 225-pound prototype be- hind center, Penn State is now being led by a player who is the opposite of how many fans and analysts think the team's quarterback should look. Just scraping 6-0 and barely tipping 200 on the scale, McSorley has the build of a defensive back. He has the mentality of one, too, and many colleges recruited him as a safety despite a magnificent high school career at QB. A three-star athlete as a recruit, he's certainly not one who many had pegged as a future Heisman Trophy candidate coming out of Briar Woods High in Ashburn, Va., three years ago. Heading into his junior season of eligi- bility, however, here he is. Or at least that's where he should be. It's his ability to scramble, to avoid tacklers in tight situations and sense the pressure without changing his sightline from his receivers that has led to one of the biggest turnarounds under Joe Moorhead and his new offense. It's also helped an offensive line that started four underclassmen in the final games shed an embattled perception that lin- gered from previous years. "He understands what he needs to do within the pocket," Moorhead said. "I think one of the great things is that when [plays] break down and he es- capes, he's able to keep his eyes down- field and still go through his progressions, as opposed to tucking the ball and running immediately." There's also no doubting that when McSorley was effective in rushing the ball, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Saquon Barkley, who will carry an even heavier Heisman bur- den than McSorley into the 2017 off- season. If either is to reach those heights, it's important that they keep slinging it. For Barkley, it takes some of the pressure off, removes a safety from the box. For McSorley, it's his penchant for the deep ball, placing it precisely where it needs to be for his wide re- ceiver to get it, that got him into this discussion in the first place. But those passes didn't always find their target, and some of the misses were costly. That explains the hesitancy to completely believe in McSorley's rise. When he drops way back, bends his back leg just enough to get the proper trajectory above the towering linemen in front of him and then flings it deep, he's not taking a prototypical approach. But take away a few forced passes against Southern California, and it's been largely effective. The opposing argument is that the style isn't sustainable. When McSorley lays it out there for his receivers, he's also presenting an opportunity for turnovers. It's a 50-50 ball, they call it, and this year – with his 25-5 touch- down-to-interception ratio before the Rose Bowl – Penn State was on the for- tunate end of those passes far more than 50 percent of the time. The law of aver- ages says that those numbers will even out in the future. But for the bulk of his playing career, McSorley has beaten the odds. Often, he's crushed them. And as Moorhead explained, McSor- ley's success with the long ball has in- volved far more than just a little luck. "Not only is he throwing the deep ball well, he's throwing it to the right person when he's open, so I think that has a lot to do with it," Moorhead said. "He's been accurate, but he's also made the right reads to get it to the right person within the pass concept." Contrarians believe that McSorley's star, like an errant Hail Mary, will even- tually come falling back to earth. It's not just his size, it's not just the style of play or the offensive system in which he op- erates. It's the combination of those factors that has prevented some from recognizing the value that McSorley truly brings. But when you boil it all down, when you remove the acrobatic catches and the dazzling runs, the Lions still have a quar- terback whose attributes can't be quan- tified, that are not often duplicated and are a rallying cry for teammates. If a little bit of luck helped Penn State's offense soar to new heights in 2016, McSorley's skill set is why there's reason to believe that it might stick around for 2017, too. "You can't measure the size of some- body's heart," McSorley said. "That is something I always try to lean on. You can measure how tall I am, how much I weigh, how big my hands are, whatever it is. But you can't measure someone's heart." ■ Heart of a Lion T

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