Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/916653
P O S T S E A S O N P R E V I E W >> P E N N S T A T E jump and go after the ball in the air or jump over things like human beings, like Trace." Gesicki's touchdown against Maryland might have seemed like the byproduct of those rare physical gifts, but it also was the result of a fierce desire for continual improvement. He was one of several tight ends who began putting in extra work during spring practice a couple of years ago, staying late to catch more passes. Spring turned into summer, and Gesicki began getting together with wideout DaeSean Hamilton to catch 200 balls from the JUGS machine every day. That practice paid off, as Gesicki enjoyed a breakthrough junior season, catching 48 passes for 679 yards and five touch- downs. During the 2017 season, he and Hamil- ton have been joined by Juwan Johnson, and the pass-catching trio has ramped up the degree of difficulty. "The three of us will go out there and get a bunch of extra catches in, and then we'll finish with 20 contested catches where some- body is behind you, hitting you and slap- ping at your hands and distracting you. Then we'll also do some wet-ball drills," Gesicki said. "It's been something that we've been doing since the bye week, trying to do some wet-ball drills just to be ready for when the weather gets to the point where we need to be prepared for that. I think staying out there and get- ting extra work helps us prepare for Sat- urday." A winner of 12 varsity letters in three sports at Southern Regional High in Manahawkin, N.J., Gesicki was deter- mined to prove himself at the start of his Penn State career. Things seemed to be going well after a freshman season in which he caught 11 passes as a backup to Jesse James, but his sophomore year was a disappointment. He started eight games but didn't enjoy much of a statistical uptick, catching only 13 passes while suf- fering a number of uncharacteristic drops. The following spring, Gesicki went into the team's off-season drills looking to boost his confidence as well as his pro- ductivity. He would write messages to himself every day, filling notebooks with all the positivity he had in him. Nobody else was saying it, so he figured he would say it himself: You're the best tight end in the country. "If anybody ever read that, they would CATCH OF THE DAY Gesicki's one- handed reception against Mary- land was one of the most spectacular plays of the Lions' season. The 9-yard score gave Penn State a 28-0 lead in its reg- ular-season finale vs. the Terps. Photo by Steve Manuel