Blue White Illustrated

T H E M O N T H I N . . . The doubters this coming season will ask whether McSorley can be as produc- tive without Saquon Barkley next to him in the back7eld or o8ensive coordina- tor Joe Moorhead (who became the head coach at Mississippi State) calling plays on the sideline. McSorley may not have the same 7ery o8-7eld personal- ity as May7eld, but on Saturdays he's a versatile playmaker who plays with an attitude. DAN MURPHY ESPN.COM McSorley lost one start in high school and has only lost five starts the last two seasons for the Nittany Lions. He's a winner, a three-year starter and a smart quarterback who has compiled 59 touchdowns and 18 interceptions for his ca- reer. A brilliant performance in the Fiesta Bowl eased concerns about the loss of offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, running back Saquon Barkley and a host of receiving targets. The 2018 season is a chance for McSorley to lead the pro- gram to the next step — and stake his claim as college football's top quarter- back. BILL BENDER SPORTINGNEWS.COM Prior to Penn State's Coaches Caravan stop Tuesday in Manhattan, Franklin rem- inisced about the running back who prompted the coach's 7rst trip to the NFL dra9. Franklin also said that Barkley's legacy will live long in State College and will help fuel the 2018 team. "When your best player is one of your better work- ers, and is high-production, low-maintenance, it sets the tone for the organiza- tion," Franklin said. "That's when guys leave the program and they're legends. To me, that's what Saquon is." MARK WOGENRICH ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL Never mind for a second that the Giants didn't get the best dra9 value with Barkley at No. 2 overall. He's on the team, and New York did dra9 Will Hernan- dez in the second round to create a bulldozing le9 side along with Nate Solder. Barkley should be a 15-20 carry per game creator and will create plenty of high- lights in the screen game. CHRIS TRAPASSO CBSSPORTS.COM What we've got to do is make sure that we're not losing assistants for lateral moves. If they're leaving to become a coordinator or to become a head coach, that's wonderful. But at a top-10 program like we are now, we should not be los- ing them to programs for lateral moves. JAMES FRANKLIN I can't compare him to anybody because I've never quite seen someone at that size with, basically, sprinter speed. I've seen him get into space on the flank, either through a broken tackle or take a swing pass, where the defensive back had an angle on him, had an absolute angle on him at least to push him out, and he kicks into an- other gear and runs by him. If it was touch football, they wouldn't even have gotten him. For a guy who's that thick and has legs that big and powerful, to have that kind of speed, it's rare. ERNIE ACCORSI, former Giants GM, on Saquon Barkley Q U O T E S O P I N I O N S speed complex that tripled the size of the program's weight room. In the Big Ten, Northwestern isn't the only school that is spending lavishly. At a projected cost of nearly $200 million, Maryland is reopening its former bas- ketball arena, Cole Field House, as a training facility with a glass-enclosed football 7eld. Minnesota has moved into the Larson Football Performance Center, Rutgers has built a new practice com- plex, and Michigan recently opened a renovated weight training facility. "It's not like everybody else is pressing the pause button waiting for us to catch up," Franklin said. "As we're trying to catch up, they've got the foot on the gas driving forward. So we made tremendous progress in a short period of time, but we've got to go. And I knew we had to go, and we have a process in stages of how we're going to work at it, but now a9er getting done this deep dive on research and seeing clearly where we are over a three-year, 7ve-year and eight-year pe- riod of time, in all these di8erent areas – salaries, facilities, all these di8erent things – we've got some work to do." Last year, the university unveiled an ambitious plan for upgrading many of its athletic facilities. The plan, which envisions 12 new athletic buildings and renovations to a number of existing buildings, was presented as a road map for the coming decades. But athletic di- rector Sandy Barbour described some of the projects as "aspirational," none more so than a rebuilt Beaver Stadium. There were no cost estimates attached to the stadium renderings that Penn State unveiled, but when Texas A&M rebuilt Kyle Field three years ago, the cost was $485 million. Even if fundrais- ing goes well, the earliest that con- struction could begin on Beaver Stadium is 2023. Barbour said during the Coaches Cara- van that the university's fundraising ef- forts will dictate how it proceeds. "We've got a plan for what we need to do," she said. "We just need to raise money and get it done." ■ Nate Bauer contributed to this report.

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