Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/861263
LEVIS Well, I knew right away that I was going to join, but I wanted to do it once we got well-rested and went back over there, because I knew it was going to be a great day Saturday. For it to hap- pen on Saturday would be really cool. I also wanted to get in contact with all the other coaches at the other schools and let them know where my mind was at and what I was going to do. That was enough time for me to do that. To tell the [Penn State] coaches the next day was good, since everyone was there. I got a good greeting from all the other commits who were in the building at the time. It was just really good to get that done. It was a dream come true and it was just a great day. BWI You had the idea then you were in- terested in committing beforehand. Why? I know you had been talking with Sean Spencer for a little while, but Moorhead only recently. Tell me more about your mindset going into this trip. LEVIS I had visited Penn State before and I got a really good feeling of the campus, the team and the school. I had done a lot of research with my family about all the schools – not only those that had o.ered me but also that I was interested in. Penn State jumped out to all of us in terms of everything it could o.er, in terms of a school, academically, a football program, athletically, and just as a community and a family. All the coaches were just absolutely amazing. I'm just awed of how class-act and grade-A all the coaches are. My trip on Thursday and everything that we did on Friday validated all of that. My parents and I knew going into the trip that if the opportunity of [attend- ing] Penn State was given to me, assum- ing we liked our visit and saw everything that we thought, read and learned about, then we knew that I would be wanting to join the class and the Penn State family. So that hap- pened, and I'm really glad it worked out. I just couldn't be happier. BWI You mentioned after our previous interview that your great-grandfather Alva Kelley coached Joe Paterno at Brown Univer- sity. Did you have any in- terest in Penn State because of that? LEVIS I never had a college football team that I really followed. Obviously, I was aware of Penn State and the tradition, just how great of a program they were. But it's funny. I didn't even know that until you were texting me back and forth. I was curious, so I just asked my mom and she told me. I hadn't even known that before that night. ... It's pretty crazy to -nd that out. It's just a bonus and a little connection to make, but it didn't really have a role in terms of my view of Penn State. BWI So football is part of your blood- line. LEVIS My great-grandpa was a national champion at Cornell University when he played there and then he went on to coach at a bunch of di.erent colleges. Then my grandpa was a defensive coor- dinator at Yale for about 20 years. Then my uncle played football at Yale, was an Academic All-American there. Just football all across the board. My dad played D-III college football at Denison University in Ohio. Sports and athletics have been a tradition in my family for a while. It's awesome to continue that. BWI Does that pedigree shape the way you play quarterback? LEVIS I've always been an individual person. I don't let my past or history or family de-ne who I am. I've always wanted to make my own story. I think I started playing quarterback in seventh grade. I was a running back before that. I was a running back and linebacker until they put me into some wildcat o.ense COMMITTED Levis joined Penn State's Class of 2018 on July 15, committing to the Lions the morning after a summer camp workout. Photo courtesy of Rivals.com