Blue White Illustrated

CLOUD NINE f all had gone according to plan, we wouldn't have seen much of Trace McSorley in the Blue-White Game. He would have played a series or two then retreated to the sideline to hang out with the rest of Penn State's veteran starters, becoming yet another example of one of the more paradoxical aspects of the highly risk-averse brand of football that most teams practice in the spring: The better you are, the less you play. But things didn't go according to plan. Backup quarterback Tommy Stevens got hurt weeks earlier and was still "lim- ited" even as the off-season drills were wrapping up, coach James Franklin ex- plained. Redshirt freshman Sean Clif- ford was limited, too, although not enough to sit out entirely. He had suf- fered a hamstring injury the previous week, and due in part to his reduced mobility, the coaching staff didn't want to use him ex- tensively in the final practice of the spring. That left Jake Zembiec and walk-on Michael Shuster to operate the opposing offenses for long stretches. And, of course, McSorley. The third- year starter played nearly the entire first half and was as ruthlessly effective as usual, hitting 10 of 14 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown against a White defense composed exclusively of backups. "Tommy was limited today, so that's why Trace got a little bit more reps than we had planned on," Franklin said after- ward. "We also want to be able to evalu- ate the other offensive players, so having Trace in there helps with that, and our guys [on defense] do a really good job of understanding how to practice and stay away from our quarterback, so we're able to play our quarterbacks typically and keep them as safe as we possibly can from a practice perspective. I think if Tommy was available, he would have got a bunch of reps. And if Clifford hadn't tweaked his hamstring, you would have seen very little of Trace." Not that anyone was complaining. As the past two seasons of Penn State foot- ball have shown, more McSorley gener- ally equals more entertainment. While his presence might have given Penn State's coaches a bit of additional video to evaluate as they figure out how young players such as K.J. Hamler and Mac Hippenhammer will fit into the offense come September, its main effect was to whet everyone's ap- petite for what could be a record-setting season in 2018. Plenty of work remains to be done this summer, but with Trace McSorley back at QB, the Lions have every reason to dream big this coming season I P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> GROUND GAME In addition to throwing for 107 yards, McSorley rushed for 41 on six carries in the Blue-White Game. Photo by Bill Anderson

• Cover