McSorley perseveres even when life at Penn State suddenly isn’t all fun and (monster) games

I’m disappointed FOR Trace McSorley. I’m most definitely not disappointed IN him.

With two games left in his storied college career, Penn State’s senior quarterback drives ever forward, head-first, toward the goals still in reach for his team. They are not insignificant goals, but neither are they the ones Nittany Lions fans dared to dream about coming off two magical seasons. Their undersized, big-hearted quarterback came of age in a wide-open offense never before seen in Happy Valley.

Big, big things seemed possible, even with a mass of stud offensive teammates heading off to the NFL. If anything, the loss of Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton and others would simply push the 6-foot, 201-pound senior even more into the marquee role he’d already proved so capable of handling.

Many pundits, Kirk Herbstreit among them, listed McSorley as a serious Heisman Trophy contender and Penn State as a serious Playoff challenger. Those lofty possibilities vaporized against Ohio State along with PSU’s 12-point fourth-quarter lead.

Those were probably unfair expectations, but McSorley’s clutch throws and instinctual, seemingly always correct run-pass decisions through consecutive 11-win seasons engendered great hope.

Through 11 games this fall, and especially since the Ohio State loss, the offense hasn’t recaptured the fun factor under first-year offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne that it had in spades under the departed Joe Moorhead.

McSorley, though, remains irrepressible, pressing ever forward, going head first for key first downs and whatever team successes remain to be had in his record-setting career.

Sore knee be damned, he ran quarterback keepers to convert consecutive late-game third downs, helping Penn State salt away a 20-7 road victory over stubborn but woefully over-matched Rutgers on Saturday.

It certainly was not pretty, and that’s been the recurring theme this season for McSorley and the young squad as a whole.

But a win is a win, and McSorley now has a school record 30 of them as a starting quarterback. With Saturday’s victory, he relegated Todd Blackledge and Tony Sacca to a share of second place.

With victories next week against Maryland and in a bowl game, McSorley will have been the common thread in a span of three straight 10-win, Top 10 seasons. That’s far from a sure thing, but McSorley has nothing left to prove anyway. He’s a winner. A winner like Penn State never before has seen.

We’re going to miss the moxie, the toughness, the class, the baseball swing, the salute. He balances an endearing brashness with humility and a wonderful sense of humor. He’s imminently likable.

For a variety of reasons, many having to do with personnel turnover on the field and in the coaching staff, the offense has not hummed this season like it did under Moorhead. Opponents have adapted to the scheme, and that’s compounded by the fact that Penn State is running a simplified version of it because of inexperience.

Statistically, this will be McSorley’s worst season. After posting five 300-yard passing games in each of the past two seasons, he has none this season. After topping 3,500 passing yards two years running, he has less than 2,100 with two games to go. After a 17-for-37 day against Rutgers, his completion percentage is down to .534, more than 13 percentage points worse than last year. He has 15 passing TDs, down from 29 and 28 the past two years. And he’s banged up, wearing a knee brace, for the first time as a Nittany Lion.

The Heisman campaign never truly got going. My thought that he might produce a Johnny Manziel-like 3,000-passing-yard, 1,000-rushing-yard swansong season proved way too heavy an expectation.

The offense has struggled around him. The problem with dropped passes has been well documented. Also, this year’s young receivers haven’t adjusted to under-thrown and back-shoulder balls like the guys did in 2016 and 2017. They rarely win 50-50 balls. The rhythm and flow of the scheme remains rough.

That’s not to say that McSorley is solely a victim of circumstances. He’s been less accurate this season. At times, he’s eschewed sure rushing yards to toss low-percentage throws downfield.

Through it all, though, his leadership and drive haven’t changed.

He’ll do whatever it takes to win. Asked to carry the ball 25 times against Ohio State, he gives coach James Franklin a career-best 175 yards rushing. Asked to take off on a designed run despite a freshly hurt knee, he goes 51 yards for the go-ahead TD against Iowa.

Saturday, still wearing the knee brace, he runs — and dives head first — for two fourth-quarter first downs that keep the clock running and kill any fantasy the Scarlet Knights had of making a final charge. In all, he ran 7 times for 39 yards Saturday.

On the season, he’s run for 659 yards, showing no fear about lowering his shoulder to gain crucial yards. Depending on what’s needed from him in the next two games, he might top Michael Robinson’s season record of 806 rushing yards by a quarterback. He already owns, or will own, almost all the other school single-season and career records for quarterbacks.

It’s been one heck of a run. McSorley keeps working, keeps leading, keeps throwing, keeps running, keeps winning.

Do the 30 victories and the school records make him the best QB in Penn State history? That depends on how you want to measure.

Blackledge won a national championship and had an NFL career. (He also threw a school-record 41 interceptions at PSU.) Kerry Collins, who led PSU’s undefeated 1994 squad, played 17 seasons in the NFL and reached the Super Bowl once.

While I’ll never count out McSorley, I’m skeptical about his chances for success in the NFL.

That said, what he has done for a program coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons is truly unprecedented and remarkable.

I’m disappointed for him that his final season has been more about work and struggle than the fun and mind-boggling statistical success of 2016 and ’17. I’m sure his only regret involves the “W” column. He’s given us a record number of those, and the ones he hasn’t delivered weren’t for a lack of maximum effort.

Wherever his career with the Nittany Lions ranks, one thing is certain: There’s never been a quarterback quite like him at Penn State.

Luke Glusco

Luke Glusco is a Penn State graduate and veteran journalist. He covers Penn State and occasionally writes about other Big Ten programs and topics. He also serves as the primary copy editor for Saturday Tradition.