Magazine Preview: Reaching for the sky

By Matt Herb

Blue White Illustrated

When he became a late addition to Penn State’s 2014 recruiting class, the thumbnail biography of Trace McSorley might as well have consisted of one word: winner. That was all anybody really knew about the three-star prospect from Ashburn, Va. McSorley, who had been committed to Vanderbilt before shifting his allegiance to Penn State when coach James Franklin left Nashville for University Park, knew how to win. He had led Briar Woods High to the state championship game in all four of his seasons as a starter, and the Falcons were victorious in three of those games. To Franklin, the trophies were as telling as any piece of video.

“He and the guy who just won the Super Bowl are the only two quarterbacks to ever take their team to four straight [Virginia state] championship games,” Franklin said on signing day, referring to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. “He’s a winner in every sense of the word.”

Given that Briar Woods started claiming titles shortly after he began taking snaps, it would be easy to assume that McSorley had stepped into a favorable situation, one in which the other key pieces were already in place and all he had to do was avoid screwing it up. But the Falcons had gone 4-6 the year before, and their plan to build the offense around the running game blew up when tailback Michael Brownlee suffered a broken leg on his first carry of the year. Later that same game, Brownlee’s backup limped off the field with a foot injury, leaving the Falcons with little choice but to put their hopes on the shoulders of their 150-pound freshman quarterback. They ended up winning the game, 10-8, on a field goal following an 88-yard drive that McSorley engineered.

And then they won 54 of their next 59.

What McSorley discovered during his four years at Briar Woods was that it didn’t take a personnel overhaul to change the direction of a football team. It just took a handful of players with the vision and charisma to get others to buy in.

“A strong corps of leaders can really change the perspective of everyone else on the team,” he said. “How guys came in and approached each day when we kind of turned the corner [changed]. It wasn’t that we were going into games just kind of hoping to be competitive; we were going in expecting to win in high school, and that was something that really stayed with me. I learned from the older guys my freshman year and continued to carry that throughout my time in high school.

“I’ve tried to bring a little bit of that here.”

McSorley has indeed brought a little bit of that to Penn State since enrolling in the summer of 2014. More than a little, actually. Finishing off the Nittany Lions’ regular season at Maryland, he went 21-5 in his two seasons as a starter and has led the Lions to a Big Ten championship as a redshirt sophomore by throwing for 384 yards in a comeback victory over Wisconsin in the league title game.

In helping thrust Penn State back into the national spotlight, McSorley has put himself in elite company. With one more season of eligibility still ahead of him, he is already Penn State’s career leader in touchdown passes with 52, and he is only the fourth quarterback in school history to surpass 6,000 career passing yards, joining Christian Hackenberg, Matt McGloin and Zack Mills.

Those numbers reflect Penn State’s offensive evolution, of course, but they also reflect McSorley’s upbringing. His father, Rick, used to take him along to his rec league basketball games, hoping to instill an interest in competition. Rick had played football at Richmond, and by the time Trace was in the eighth grade, he was opening eyes as quarterback of Briar Woods’ JV team.

And while McSorley was passionate about football – his favorite NFL quarterbacks were Drew Brees and Michael Vick – his devotion to the sport didn’t come at the expense of other interests. He was also a 4.0 student who could often be found volunteering at youth football camps in the area, or taking part in charity fundraisers.

He has continued his community involvement at Penn State, where he is co-president (along with linebacker Jason Cabinda) of the Nittany Lions’ chapter of Uplifting Athletes. And he has also continued to win football games. McSorley’s numbers have translated into the kind of team success that the program hasn’t enjoyed since Joe Paterno’s late-career resurgence a decade ago. There was the league championship last year, only the fourth in the program’s history. And now that Penn State has won 10 games this year, it is first time since 2008-09 that the team has posted double-digit victory totals in consecutive seasons.

And yet, he and his teammates have done such a thorough job of changing attitudes over the past two years that the team’s victories have only served to leave a lot of people wanting even more. Penn State’s surge has reawakened a craving for the kind of success that it used to enjoy during Paterno’s glory days, the kind that seemed unattainable for a while after the NCAA levied its sanctions in 2012. The Nittany Lions have fallen just short of their loftiest goals, losing to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl on a late field goal in the final game of the 2016 season and dropping games to Ohio State and Michigan State this fall by a combined total of four points. Those two regular-season losses ended any hope of a return to the Big Ten Championship Game.

McSorley finds motivation in moments like those. The photo gallery on his phone includes a shot from the final game of his high school career. It was the Virginia 5A championship, and Briar Woods let a 15-point halftime lead slip away in a 35-28 loss to L.C. Bird. McSorley threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns, and he also had 10 tackles and an interception on defense, but the Falcons still fell short. Why hold onto such an agonizing memory? “Because I never want to feel that way again,” he told USA Today earlier this year.

Inevitably, though, as a player in one of the most competitive conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision, McSorley has had to find a way of coping with defeat. What’s more, he’s had to accept that he’s going to play an outsized role in the team’s fortunes, good and bad. Penn State’s offensive scheme calls on him to take shots downfield, and while the risk-reward calculus has mostly worked in the Lions’ favor, it’s not a foolproof system. In three of the team’s five losses over the past two years – to Pitt, Southern Cal and Michigan State – fourth-quarter interceptions have had a big impact on the outcome.

Following the Lions’ 27-24 loss at Michigan State, McSorley found himself searching for answers in the postgame media room. He said he wasn’t surprised by the Spartans’ game plan or their tenacity or toughness. “They’re a great program, so I’m not stunned,” he said. “My personal feeling is more of anger. I just feel like that’s not me with the turnovers.”

The following week against Rutgers, he threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and he didn’t toss any interceptions. It wasn’t enough to get the Lions back into Big Ten title contention, but it did burnish their postseason credentials, and it showed that McSorley’s sense of determination hadn’t wavered in the aftermath of the team’s midseason swoon. That wasn’t at all surprising. One of the telltale characteristics of a winner is a willingness to keep fighting.

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What else is in the latest issue of Blue White Illustrated's magazine? Let's take a closer look at some of the feature stories, news and notes, here!

THE RUNDOWN:

FOOTBALL - We've got yet another issue packed with football! Feature stories in this issue include: A look at why Penn State's regular season Big Ten losses shouldn't detract from the incredible progress the program has made, an examination of Saquon Barkley's steadfast dedication to the team above personal aspirations, the young defensive ends that are coming up and preparing to make an even bigger impact with the Nittany Lions moving forward, and a glance at the career of safety Troy Apke.

PHIL'S CORNER - Setbacks may have hindered Barkley's opportunity to bring home the Heisman hardware, but BWI publisher Phil Grosz still considers the junior running back to be among the Nittany Lions' all-time greats. This is a must-read!

RECRUITING - As always, BWI recruiting analysts Ryan Snyder and Tim Owen have your Penn State football recruiting fix. In this issue, there is an update on the recruiting decision upcoming for five-star Micah Parsons, a Class of 2019 hot list, a look at the commitment and expectations for '19 quarterback Ta'Quan Roberson, impressions from Penn State's home slate of recruiting visits, and more! This is a recruiting section you must check out!

HOOPS - BWI men's basketball beat writer Nate Bauer gives you the latest on the Nittany Lions as big men Mike Watkins and Lamar Stevens narrow their focus to staying out of foul trouble this season.

WRESTLING - BWI's Tim Owen details the future career for Nittany Lion star Zain Retherford in international wrestling, but also the intense focus the senior has on a final season at Penn State.

And these are just a few of the many stories and features that come with every edition of Blue White Illustrated's magazine, including a special reflection on Nittany Lion rivals from Penn State historian Lou Prato, an inside look at the women's volleyball team as it preps for another title run, Varsity Views notebook, Scorecard, The Last Word, and more!

ORDER YOUR BWI MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION HERE!

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