Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/847744
2 0 1 7 S E A S O N P R E V I E W A Penn State football book by Lou Prato with a forward by Adam Taliaferro The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions Price: $14.95 plus shipping Published by Triumph Books (soft cover) Autographed copies available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171 Autographed copies of Lou's book We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions are still available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171. Price: $19.95 plus tax where applicable and shipping longtime job as a college football television analyst has earned him that privilege, but he is not happy with the current media- oriented influence on the process. "I'm a little bit of a lone wolf on this and get on my soapbox every year," he said, " but number one, preseason polls are fool- ish and there shouldn't be a poll until the first week in October after teams have played for a month and you see who's legit. In the same spirit, there should be no conversation about the Heisman until the first week of November because, again, the award is not won in August, and not won by which team has the best PR department or hype machine. It should be won by the person that partic- ular year who has the best, most impact- ful season. Everyone that votes for the Heisman has different criteria that maybe they look at, and for me, not the only cri- terion but one of the biggest criterion is, how did they play in the biggest games in the biggest moments? That carries a lot of weight for me. And typically those games don't happen until November." Some friendly advice So, what is the final advice Penn State's Heisman-contending combos want to give Barkley and McSorley? Blackledge: "Put the team first, and from what I know about both of them, I can't imagine they're not doing that. Just believe that when the team has great suc- cess, individual accolades and honors typically follow. I think both of those guys are competitors. They want to win. They want to play their best and help their team be the best. And if they both play to a high level, Penn State is going to be dif- ficult to defend and to beat. Whether that ends up with one of them being in the top three of the Heisman or the two of them splitting the vote, all that stuff is second- ary to the pursuit of a championship." Warner: "It's a team game. In order to win, everyone has to be willing to play certain roles. Sometimes you're called to do more. Sometimes you're called to do less. But you do it to the best of your abil- ity regardless of what you're called to do. … And when you play at a certain level and are expected to play at a certain level and you are no longer the underdog… you're going to get a lot more media at- tention, and you need to handle that, too." Carter: "Focus on the task at hand. Last year they were hungry and wanted to be successful. They need to take that same mentality this year. There is a lot more digital [coverage] than when I was there. They're going to get a lot more media at- tention and things like that. At the same time, remember your core values and where they took you, and work hard. It's no time to boogie. I don't think anyone has won the Heisman from the beginning hype to the end. Don't worry about post- season accolades, because if you don't do anything during the season, it won't mat- ter anyway. So go out there and win every game, and if you take care of everything on the field, all the accolades will take care of themselves afterwards." Collins: "Forget about any individual awards or what kind of season you have in- dividually but just focus on the team. Just try to be the best leader you can be and put the team above anything you are trying to accomplish personally. That will give you the best chance to be recognized as an in- dividual after the season. There's plenty of time to look back and receive all the credit you deserve. I would put that out of my mind and focus solely on what you can ac- complish as a team. "Also, remember that injuries are part of the game, and there's really not much you can do about it. The most important thing is to not get too far ahead of yourself. There's a lot of hype, and you can get caught up in that. They're both good play- ers. But what happens when they hit a little rough patch during the season? If you're thinking too much about yourself, that takes away from your ability to respond. When you have some adversity, you need to have patience. … An injury and it's a whole different year. … You get a rhythm going and you have a team that is jelling and you lose a receiver and it's a whole dif- ferent game. You have to adjust to who they are and step up in a leadership role that doesn't always help your own stats. This year will be a different challenge for them, and I'm pulling for them." ■