Penn State Nittany Lions 2017 Football Preview

It’s not often that a team loses their all-time leading passer to the NFL…and gets much better. But that’s exactly what happened to Penn State. Christian Hackenberg was an elite quarterback prospect that seemed to have NFL written all over him even in high school. But after a decent freshman season, he seemingly regressed as a sophomore and junior. He declared for the NFL anyway and has been, well, somewhat less than impressive so far this preseason. Sometimes evaluations of players from drills and practice simply don’t translate during games.

After three straight seven-win seasons under Hackenberg, Trace McSorley (6’0” 204 lbs.) led Penn State to a Big Ten title and a berth in the Rose Bowl as a sophomore. Last season, McSorley completed 58% of his passes for 3,614 yards and 29 touchdowns with eight interceptions; the yards and touchdown marks becoming single-season school records for Penn State. The dual-threat quarterback also rushed for 365 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground, earning him second team all-Big Ten honors. McSorley will be backed up by sophomore Tommy Stevens (6’4” 224 lbs.), who rushed for 198 yards and two touchdowns as a backup. His 9.4 yards per carry average on 21 carries wasn’t based on one long run; he had runs of 18, 31 and 45 yards last season. He also completed two of three passes for 36 yards.

But the real beast of the Penn State offense is junior running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley (5’11” 228 lbs.) rushed for 1,076 yards as a freshman, then 1,496 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, earning him Big Ten offensive player of the year honors and third team All-American honors. He also caught 28 passes for 402 yards and four more touchdowns. Folks in Pennsylvania wonder whether in this age of wide-open spread attacks, Barkley couldn’t rush for over 2,000 yards in 2017. Sophomores Miles Sanders (5’11” 201 lbs.) and Andre Robinson (5’9” 225 lbs.) rushed for 184 and 141 yards respectively as backups last season.

All of Penn State’s receivers return except for two-time all-Big Ten honoree Chris Godwin, who’s off to Tampa Bay. Senior tight end Mike Gesicki (6’6” 253 lbs.) leads the returning receivers with 48 catches for 679 yards and five touchdowns last season. Gesicki had a bit of the dropsies in 2015, but fixed it to become one of the most dependable receivers last season. Senior DaeSean Hamilton (6’1” 208 lbs.) caught 34 passes for 506 yards and a touchdown last season; he’s just 19 shy of the school record for career receptions. A name to keep in mind is sophomore Juwan Johnson (6’4” 225 lbs.); he only caught two passes last season, but made a splash this spring.