Trace McSorley joins elite Penn State company after eclipsing passing milestone
Christian Hackenberg was the only quarterback in Penn State history to throw for more than 8,000 yards during his career. But after this weekend, the former Nittany Lion got a little company at the top.
On Friday night, Penn State clobbered Illinois 63-24 to open the B1G season. McSorley completed 12-of-19 passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. That yardage total was good enough to put him past the 8,000-yard mark.
McSorley is now just the second quarterback to hit that milestone in program history.
Baller Alert. 🚨 @McSorley_IX becomes the second Nittany Lion ever to surpass 8⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣ career passing yards!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/JzlCdvSF0N
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) September 23, 2018
Through four weeks of the 2018 season, McSorley has totaled 764 passing yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions. For his career, he has 8,133 yards through the air. That ranks second on Penn State’s all-time leaderboard.
Hackenberg, who was in Happy Valley from 2013 through 2015, racked up 8,427 career passing yards.
It’s likely that McSorley will become the program’s all-time leading passer over the next two weeks. He already owns the record for career touchdown passes (64), single season passing yards (3,614) and single season passing touchdowns (29).
McSorley will have a chance to become Penn State’s all-time leading passer on the big stage on Saturday night as the Nittany Lions host Ohio State.