Adversity doesn’t define character. It reveals it.
That is true for Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin.
And in 2011, that is true for his teammates as well.
They got to where they are today while swimming upstream against the frightening flotsam and jarring jetsam that has become their near-apocalyptic football season.
The Nittany Lions are 9-2 and headed into Wisconsin on Saturday, 14-point underdogs and fighting for a chance to play Michigan State for the Big Ten championship on Dec. 3. Against all odds.
Seven of their last eight wins have come by a total of 44 points – that’s less than a touchdown per game. Ricocheted field goals, wily Wildcats, nearly hosed by the horrible Hoosiers. A fired coach, a coach in hiding. Chaos.
But for McGloin, in some ways it’s been more of the same. In fact, when it comes to putting distractions aside and focusing on the task on hand, he could be the poster boy for the 2011 squad.
Always a confident McG. Never a doormatt.
ADVERSE TO ADVERSITY
That been his Job One, not only this season but ever since he stepped foot on campus in the fall of 2008.
“Matt’s faced definite adversity throughout his entire career,” says senior safety Drew Astorino. “Playing a half of a game, playing back-up… I think he’s done a great job keeping his composure and doing what he needs to do when he gets out there.
McGloin was a star quarterback at West Scranton High School, throwing for a staggering 58 touchdowns and 5,485 yards in his career. He always dreamed of playing for Notre Dame. Problem was, not only didn’t he get a second look from the Fighting Irish, he never got a first look.
So, fresh off two Class AAA football district titles, McGloin headed 144.9 miles southwest to University Park. When he arrived he was placed on the scout team – a bit like the Land of Misfit Toys, home to walk-ons and big-time freshmen recruits, biding time for a year until (if) they got to play with the Big Boys.
Joe Paterno liked his arm, but couldn’t remember his name. He was “That Kid From Scranton.”
McGloin was determined to make a name for himself. His own name.
“You need a mindset of wanting to prove people wrong,” said McGloin, who as a freshman watched from afar as Pat Devlin and Daryll Clark battled for the starting job. “You want to prove that you are capable of playing the game at a high level week in and week out. You want to be a great player, working hard toward that goal.
“When you’re on the scout team, you’re trying to gain respect from your teammates and respect from your coaches.”
He gained the respect of the Penn State fans in the 2009 Blue-White Game. He completed 9 of 13 passes for 111 yards, with two touchdown passes. Then he went back to third string.
WAITING (FOR A) GAME
McGloin wasn’t sure his day would ever come. Now wait…yes he was.
Doubts? “I don’t think so,” he says, “especially at quarterback. I don’t think you can doubt yourself too much. You have to have a lot of confidence in yourself and a lot of confidence in your abilities.”
My goodness, he still had his swagger after the 2011 Outback Bowl, after he threw five picks in the Nittany Lions’ 37-24 loss to Florida. (He Tweeted that he would hate to lose Rob Bolden, who was “a good backup.”) Though McGloin started five of the final six games of the 2010 season, when he returned to campus in January, the starting job was not his.
Bolden was the focus. McGloin was the foil. It was one mell of a hess, one of many in 2011 that ultimately escalated out of control.
When you listen to McGloin’s story, of his four years at Penn State – behind Clark and Devlin and Kevin Newsome and Bolden and maybe even Paul Jones – you get a sense that he is Penn State’s 2011 team literally personified.
No one, other than the players and coaches, has really believed in these Nittany Lions. Not when they were 0-0, or 5-1, or 8-1 or even now, 9-2.
As Paterno fiddled, McGloin only slightly burned. He persevered and finally grabbed the Lions’ share of snaps when Big Ten play started. He has led Penn State to a 6-1 record since he’s been the No. 1 quarterback, in deed if not word.
Even now, an astounding 26 of his current teammates – 30 percent of all scholarship players — have started more games than McGloin (with nine). His folks may be florists back in Scranton, but things have not always come up roses for Matthew James McGloin.
He’s been seemingly undeterred. That’s McG’s nature, says receiver Derek Moye, McGloin’s favorite target and one of his best friends.
“I think he went into that mindset this year not knowing if he would be starting,” says Moye. “I don’t feel like it’s very hard for him; he went through the same thing last year. He knew he had to keep his composure and just let things play out and eventually he would get his chance.”
That chance – for McGloin, for Moye, for their teammates – now comes in Madison. Their suitcases are filled with nine victories, three more than several of the writers on the Penn State beat predicted.
THINKING LIKE TOM
The players didn’t care, says Moye. Still don’t, as if the earth-shattering events of the past half-fortnight could somehow lessen the Nittany Lions’ resolve.
“Not at all. It’s kind of something that you guys, the media, blow up,” Moye says. “It’s obviously a big deal, but as far as being on the players’ minds, it’s not a big deal for us to go out there and play. Like I said, we had a goal set at the beginning of the year. It’s not hard for us to stay focused on that goal.”
As McGloin says of the grit that has been part and parcel of his being since August 2008, “it’s that mindset that gets you through every day it.’
A mindset not unlike that of interim head coach Tom Bradley, who has restored order with McGloin-like behavior. Honest, unfailingly upbeat, full of resolve. Through it all, McGloin has seemed unfazed. His Tweets have been positive and his actions calm and focused.
The two met in Bradley’s tiny office this week. They talked football, they bull-shitted. And they hit it off. Of course.
McGloin remains focused, that’s for sure. And not just inward.
A WEDNESDAY FOR THE AGES
It seems forever ago, on the most manic of Wednesdays in the 156 years of The Pennsylvania State University, when University Park was half Day of the Locusts and half Bonfire of the Vanities.
Paterno had resigned as head football coach after 46 years, telling only part of the team in a hastily arranged meeting. Later that night, they learned that Paterno was fired and Bradley was his successor. They learned by Twitter, TV, text and email.
Let’s turn to 7 o’clock on that night of Nov. 9, a few hours before the president and the coach were fired, in the crisp dark air that hung over gate A of Beaver Stadium.
McGloin – and his six of teammates, including linemen Mike Farrell and Eric Shrive – were visiting Paternoville. They had promised to do a fundraiser for the players’ charity, “Life For Life,” and they were honoring that commitment to hundreds of their fellow students.
McGloin was tossing a few passes with a fellow undergrad, probably some geeky Chem or Econ major.
“We’re just waiting for what the trustees decide,” McGloin said, throwing a spiral into the night air. “Then we’ll do what we have to.”
The ball landed perfectly. A half grin.
McGloin never doubted…then, and now.
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