Blue White Illustrated

Georgia State Postgame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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ground for the score. BEST SACKPenn State's defense set the tone in the second half when Shaka Toney came around the edge and Manny Bowen broke through on a blitz to combine for a sack and force a fum- ble. Kevin Givens fell on the pigskin for the Nittany Lions and once again gave the offense excellent field position at its own 45-yard line. BEST HITMarcus Allen was visibly an- noyed after being called for pass inter- ference midway through the second quarter. He took those frustrations out later in the drive on Georgia State's Tamir Jones, who caught a screen pass on the right sideline and appeared in good position to pick up a chunk of yards before Allen came flying over from the left to knock Jones out of bounds. BEST EFFORT With McSorley taking a snap from inside the Penn State end zone, Barkley saved the Nittany Lions from a potential disaster. The running back threw his body into a Georgia State defender coming around the edge un- opposed with a safety on his mind. Mc- Sorley went on to complete a 20-yard pass to Mike Gesicki down the left side- line and earn the Nittany Lions a first down. BEST INTERCEPTION With Georgia State putting together a drive into Penn State territory, Allen high-pointed a pass into the flat and pulled it down to stop the Panthers in their tracks. He wasn't done there, though. The senior safety returned the interception 50 yards to the Georgia State 25-yard line, giving the offense a short field to work with. BEST KICKOf its nine kickoff oppor- tunities, Penn State only gave the Pan- thers the opportunity to return on two occasions. All six of Tyler Davis' kicks went for touchbacks. In reserve, Alex Barbir was penalized once for placing one of his kicks out of bounds, but he held Georgia State to just 34 combined return yards on two other kicks as he completed a solid night for the Nittany Lions on special teams. WORST KICKTyler Davis has gotten off to a relatively shaky start to the sea- son after making over 90 percent of his kicks in 2016. Davis hooked a kick late in the second half wide to the left, missing his second of four field goal at- tempts early on this year. BEST RETURNDeAndre Thompkins once again proved elusive in the return game. Fielding a third-quarter punt near his own 25 yard-line, Thompkins weaved through a number of defenders on his way to a 26-yard runback. MOST TELLING MOMENTFollowing a subpar performance against Pitt a week ago, McSorley used Penn State's first drive to set the record straight. He led the Nittany Lions right down the field, completing all six of his passes on the drive for a total of 56 yards. McSorley found Stevens for a 10-yard touchdown to close it out and give the Nittany Lions an early 7-0 lead. S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 5 R E C R U I T I N G The Nittany Lions may have been fac- ing their weakest opponent of the sea- son, but the coaching staff hosted its best group of recruits so far this season for Saturday night's game against Georgia State. The list was headlined by two of the staff's top remaining targets in the Class of 2018: defensive ends Micah Parsons and Jayson Oweh. Last week, both Par- sons, from Harrisburg, Pa., and Oweh, from Blairtown, N.J., used their first offi- cial visits of the season to attend Ohio State's game against Oklahoma. James Franklin and his staff were able to get both on campus for unofficial visits Sat- urday, allowing them to return later in the season for an official visit. In fact, Oweh has already set his official visit to Penn State for the game against Nebraska in November. The Class of 2019 was also well-repre- sented, as defensive end Antonio Alfano, defensive tackle Steven Faucheux and wide receiver John Metchie were all on the sidelines Saturday evening. Earlier this summer, Penn State hosted both Faucheux, from West Chester, Ohio, and Metchie, who plays at Saint James High School in Hagerstown, Md., but is origi- nally from Canada, for camp. Each ulti- mately walked away with an offer. As for Alfano, he hadn't been on campus since last November when he attended the game against Michigan State. The Rah- way, N.J., prospect and Rivals100 mem- ber visited Alabama, Clemson and Tennessee this past summer. Another notable attendee in the 2019 class was defensive end Hakeem Beamon of Chesterfield, Va. A four-star prospect and member of the Rivals250, Beamon committed to North Carolina in the summer. He's yet to earn an offer from the Nittany Lions, but that could change in the near future. Finally, Franklin and his staff also hosted two notable 2020 prospects in running back Chris Tyree and wide re- ceiver Julian Fleming. Both Tyree, from Chester, Va., and Fleming, from Catawissa, Pa., earned offers from Penn State this past summer aAer working out with the staff on campus. Tyree already has offers from nearly a dozen schools, including Florida State, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and West Vir- ginia. Michigan, Michigan State, Pitts- burgh and West Virginia are a few of the more notable programs that have already extended offers to Fleming. However, like all good coaching staffs, Franklin and his assistants will continue to recruit the best of the best, just in case they do miss out on some of their more coveted targets. Parsons, Oweh among visitors for PSU's matchup with Georgia St. R Y A N S N Y D E R | S N Y D E R 4 2 0 8 8 @ G M A I L . c O M

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