UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Behind starter Christian Hackenberg Penn State is still young at quarterback.
They’re not as young as they were a year ago, however. Redshirt freshman Trace McSorley has experience running the offense and took all the second-team reps in practice last season. Freshman Tommy Stevens arrived in January and as James Franklin said earlier this spring, Stevens didn’t experience many first-day jitters when he hit the practice field in Holuba Hall last month. Walk-on Billy Fessler works behind them.
Penn State redshirt freshman quarterback Trace McSorley breaks from work with the offense to practice holding for field goals and extra points during spring practice. (Audrey Snyder/Post-Gazette)
McSorley and Stevens are dual-threat quarterbacks and while offensive coordinator John Donovan told me they don’t necessarily need dual-threat quarterbacks to run this offense, it does add another element. Of course Hackenberg’s athleticism outside the pocket is a detail that can surprise some – considering he moves as well as can be expected for a 6-foot-4, 236-pound athlete with a big arm – this spring and summer we’ll get a better look at those backing up the junior.
The Blue-White Game on April 18 should provide an extended look at the redshirt freshman and true freshman who are growing more comfortable since after all, this is their first go around at spring ball.
Here’s more from my conversation with offensive coordinator John Donovan about Penn State’s backup QBs and the future of the position:
Q: We saw Trace McSorley in practice last year and you guys were able to redshirt him. How do you feel about his development within the last 10 months since he enrolled?
A: John Donovan: “You ideally wanted to redshirt that kid last year and you were able to do that so you’re not as opposed as having to play him [if needed] because now the clock’s ticking, so that you feel good about. You feel good about him being a year older. I just think everything he’s shown us in practice, his ability, his demeanor, his presence, his intelligence, he gives you hope that if something does happen where we need to play him in a game he could play.”
Q: Based off the quarterbacks you guys have brought, with both Trace and Tommy being dual-threat players, in is it safe to say that a dual-threat quarterback is the kind of player this offense is best suited for?
A: Donovan: “It’s always nice to have a guy who can do both, but it’s not necessarily that it has to be that way. Is it nice to have a guy that can run and pass? Yeah, absolutely, but ultimately at that position you’ve got to be able to throw because it’s nice to be able to have the threat of doing both and all that stuff, but you can’t get away with just running, you need to be abele to throw better than you can run that’s for sure. That’s what I think anyway, that’s my opinion.
“Trace definitely is an athlete. He played both ways, we loved him as a safety in high school too. Tommy is along those lines too. He’s pretty athletic too, played some defense too so it just happened to workout that way. They both can sling it.”
Q: Building more depth at quarterback came up at times last year since you had a sophomore starter and two freshmen behind him. Now it’s junior, redshirt freshman, true freshman. Is taking one quarterback per recruiting class ideal for where you’re at now?
A: Donovan: “Not necessarily, we’ll be willing to take two. It’s tough because quarterbacks especially nowadays they’re always looking at what your roster is going to be looking like and a lot of them may not want to go to a place that is recruiting two that year, so we’ll always tell guys we’re probably going to take two this year if we can take two. It depends, on the year I guess, but we’ll never tell a guy it’s only going to be one. We’ll leave that door open just in case there’s another guy we like.”
Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter: @audsnyder4
First Published: May 1, 2015, 3:09 a.m.
