In McSorley, Lions have stability in season of change

Penn State’s offense will be different next season.

Fresh off one of the most prolific offensive productions in the program’s history, the Nittany Lions will have new faces taking over for familiar roles.

The offensive coordinator that helped usher in a remarkable resurgence has moved onto a head coaching gig at Mississippi State. The Lions’ running backs coach went with him as an assistant. The program’s best Heisman contender in 15 years is pursuing his chance at a career in the NFL. Many mainstay starters will follow his lead.

Yet in the absence of Joe Moorhead, Charles Huff, Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton, Saeed Blacknall and Brendan Mahon, quarterback Trace McSorley remain. And for at least one of the soon-to-be-missed Nittany Lions, the feeling is a reciprocal one.

“He's a helluva competitor, he works hard every day, he leads this group like no one else on this team. I’m going to miss him,” said Mahon. “He's a great guy, he's a great leader on the field, he's an even better guy off the field and I'm going to miss him.”

Given in the immediate aftermath of Penn State’s 35-28 win against No. 11 Washington in the Fiesta Bowl, Mahon’s glowing assessment had merit.

Led by a sterling performance from McSorley, the Nittany Lions cemented themselves as the third-highest scoring offense in the program’s history at 41.7 points per game. McSorley himself was accountable for 342 yards and two touchdowns passing, completing 32-of-41 attempts with two interceptions to go along with 60 yards rushing on 12 carries. Notably, he also completed 12-of-12 passes for 193 yards on third downs.

One of the primary targets on McSorley’s afternoon, himself ascending the program’s record books with a five reception day for 110 yards and two scores, Hamilton boiled down what made the quarterback so effective.

“Trace was slinging it today. Hitting any receiver,” said Hamilton. “Trace was really just distributing the ball like he always does and finding the open guy.”

Sitting alongside his players, head coach James Franklin offered further elaboration.

“I think that's one of the things we do a great job of. These guys are unselfish. So we don't have one receiver with 100 receptions that are leading the conference, but it makes it really difficult to defend us because there are so many guys that can hurt you, our tight ends, our receivers, our running backs, in the passing game, in the run game,” Franklin said. “And Trace just does a great job of going through his progressions and taking what the defense gives.”

That decision-making process has taken a progressively upward trajectory for McSorley since his first significant appearance at the end of his redshirt freshman year.

Completing 50 percent of his passes in seven appearances that season, the bulk of McSorley’s production came in a 14-of-27 performance against Georgia. As a redshirt sophomore he blossomed in helping to guide the Nittany Lions to their first Rose Bowl berth since 2008, but admittedly, McSorley had hoped to improve on his 57.9 completion percentage.

Quietly, maybe somewhat in the shadow of the spotlight showered on Barkley this season, McSorley was able to do exactly that.

Completing 284 of 427 passes for 3,570 yards and 28 touchdowns, the quarterback finished second only to Kerry Collins’ program record of a 66.7 completion percentage in 1994 for a single season. At 427 attempts, the third-highest in program history, McSorley also threw the ball on 163 more occasions than Collins did during his record-setting season.

Even before the Fiesta Bowl performance, friends and teammates were cognizant of the progress that McSorley had made during the 2017 season. Partially credited as one of the instigators to Penn State’s offensive breakout, one that saw the Lions lift themselves from among the nation’s worst into one of its most explosive, McSorley spent the offseason trying to do his part to improve on it.

In step with the quarterback’s career ascent, Hamilton characterized the signal-caller’s most recent season as one in which those efforts repeatedly showed up in the locker room, practice, and especially on the field.

“He’s getting a lot of confidence under him,” said Hamilton. “I think, at least in this season, he’s basically becoming an all-around quarterback in my eyes. He’s able to make every throw, he’s leading the team, he’s making plays with his feet. He’s putting us in the right situation in the right play call.

“Being a field general, he’s always been able to do that, but I think I saw him take the next step this year… So for him to be able to handle that and go out there on Saturday and perform really well has been really impressive.”

Count Washington head coach Chris Petersen among the believers.

Billed as one of the nation’s top defenses going into the Fiesta Bowl, the Huskies were routinely gashed by McSorley’s playmaking not just through the air, but also on the ground in key situations. Repeatedly frustrating Washington’s defensive players with his elusiveness in the pocket, McSorley drew Petersen’s unmitigated praise.

“They just did a great job. I think McSorley is a heck of a player. He's a great competitor and he makes that whole thing go,” said Petersen. “As good as Barkley is, I think it's that quarterback that makes the whole offense go.

“He's buying time, getting out of there, and when we did get a little pressure on him he stepped up nicely and took off and ran or bought time. He's a hard guy to handle. He's a heck of a player.”

Finishing the season eighth nationally for completion percentage, having already proven his durability and a penchant for making plays with his legs and feet in the biggest moments of games, McSorley’s evolution sets up a final go-round with the Nittany Lions in 2018.

Already cemented statistically as one of the program’s best to play the position, the quarterback Franklin described as one of the best in the country in his decision-making, leadership, toughness, and accuracy, has an opportunity to do what few could have predicted before his arrival as a Nittany Lion:

Be missed as much as, or more than, any of the program’s all-time greats upon his career’s conclusion.