Penn State’s football players were kidding around on Saturday. For good reason.
Offensive lineman Derek Dowrey – all 6-foot-3 and 321 pounds of him with flowing golden locks – was playing jump rope with two little girls.
No. 26, freshman sensation Saquon Barkley, had a right hand on red and a right foot on yellow as the 1,000-yard rusher was all Twistered up with a little boy wearing No. 25.
Wide receiver Josh McPhearson, only a few months removed from ACL surgery, took a rehabbing knee to hand off a football to a young kid wearing a No. 7 jersey inked with autographs across his shoulders.
As head coach James Franklin – who was also on hand — likes to say, Penn State was 1-0 on Saturday, as those three Nittany Lions were among the 40 who played host to over 30 THON kids and their families at Lasch Building.
According to two of Penn State’s veteran leaders on hand, it was both a humbling and a team-building experience.
“We’re in the football building wearing jerseys, but at the same time we’re not being regular football players,” said junior linebacker Brandon Bell. “We’re being good people just helping out. I was having a rough week and school was tough and a number of things were annoying. But after this I see that my problems aren’t all that bad. It let me see what I can do to help someone else.
“It kind of humbles guys, which is always needed. For us to be with these families and kids, it brings our entire team together.”
A FULL NELSON LESSON
That camaraderie also teaches a decidedly young team what Penn State, as well as Penn State football, are about. It’s a key lesson, given that Franklin’s current group on campus scholarship features 49 scholarship athletes who came to campus in the past 25 months.
Offensive tackle Andrew Nelson is a Blue and White greybeard, older than everyone in that aforementioned group. He’ll be a senior academically in the fall, with junior eligibility, so understands all that is good about the Penn State tradition and expectations. He’s lived it and, as a kid growing up in Hershey, dreamed about it. And now, with a roster that will include 65 scholarship freshmen, sophomores and juniors when the 2016 season begins, he preaches it.
The team’s event for THON families on Saturday – which featured sumo wrestling, human-sized bowling pins, weight room and practice field tours, and plenty of ice cream – provided Nelson with plenty of fodder to talk about what Penn State football means to him.
“This shows people outside of the program what Penn State football is all about,” Nelson said. “But it also shows that to the people inside the program — guys who just got here, new coaches, guys who were here over the summer but this was the first time they did anything interacting with THON. It shows them what Penn State football is all about. It shows that it’s more than this practice field, it’s more than the weight room, it’s more than working out. It’s about giving back to the community and making a difference.
“A lot of the younger guys see that and see the passion the older guys have for this and it just wears off on them. Watching Saquon and Nick Scott play with that little kid over there,” Nelson added, pointing to a game of tag, “everybody has a blast. They just love it.”
Both Bell and Nelson said that Saturday was a reminder that the Nittany Lions are more than back-to-back 7-6 seasons or the BMOC who fellow students point to as they walk to class.
“It let’s guys know that although this is what we do 24/7, it’s not who we are,” Bell said. “Giving back is what it’s all about. Seeing these kids smile is what it’s all about.”
Added Nelson: “These are days that define the program. Obviously, the program has had ups and downs as far as wins and losses go, but things that never change about the program are things like this. Guys love things like this. And the people who are in the locker room who care so deeply about things like this, the younger guys see.
“Those are the things that they then carry on to the classes after them. That’s the Penn State that’s never left. Penn State has been hit with some tough times recently and everyone knows that. We’re not going back to that, but in the same regard that’s the same Penn State that has never left here.”
IT’S PERSONAL
For Nelson, THON is personal. As a student at Hershey High School, located just two miles down Route 422 from the Hershey Medical Center (home of THON’s Four Diamonds activities), Nelson took part in a mini-THON fundraiser.
And at Penn State, Nelson has been especially touched by a THON kid who previously took part in the football squad’s Dance Marathon events and now attends classes at University Park.
“I’d see that guy on campus,” Nelson recalled, “and he’d say, ‘Thanks so much for that day, it was so much fun.’
“Well, it was a blast for me, too…. It’s unbelievable that we’re heroes to them when they’re fighting for their lives every day.”
