Penn State safety Nick Scott is a teammate that Trace McSorley loves to hate.
Scott is great at getting on his quarterback’s nerves, especially when his No. 1 defense goes against McSorley’s No. 1 offense.
There’s more than a trace of the QB being a bit mcsorely about it.
“I’ve gone against Nick the past couple of years,” says McSorley, Scott’s fellow co-captain, close friend, soon-to-be-roommate, practice nemesis and NOVA native.
“And he’ll annoy me and piss me off, because of the energy he always brings. He’ll be dancing around and talking trash and all that kind of stuff, which will annoy me. On the field, I hate him.”
Off the field, it is a different story for the pair that arrived at Penn State from opposing Northern Virginia high schools in 2014.
“But when we get in the locker room,” says McSorley, “Nick will be smiling and laughing. Then you can’t help but love him again. He’s willing to do anything for this team. He’s always bringing that constant energy and makes everyone better.”
INTERCONNECTED AND INDEPENDENT
McSorley is not only complimentary of Scott. He’s also complementary. They are fire and ice. Earth and sun. Super nova and super-sub.
They are Nittanyin and Nittanyang — inseparable yet contradictory opposites.
Yin can be imagined in McSorley, the cool-as-a-cucumber Heisman hopeful QB who is in his third season at the helm — a tiger, and a symbol of earth, stillness, darkness and absorption.
Yang is Scott personified, the special teams ace turned (finally) starting safety who has just two career starts as he heads into Year No. 5 at Penn State — a dragon, full of light, penetration and hyper-activity.
Both are second-year captains for Penn State, joined in 2018 at the captain’s table by hip and thoughtful punter Blake Gillikin. (The 2017 captain’s quarters included six other players, in addition to McSorley and Scott). ‘Trace and Nick have earned the respect of their teammates after being selected by their peers as captain for a second-straight year,” head coach and relationship guru James Franklin said when announcing their re-pairing.
Theirs is a partnership that works. It not only rules the Nittany Lions’ offense and defense, but also the team locker room in 2018. Not to mention that the two will share living quarters this fall, along with California chill Koa Farmer, Florida native Amani Oruwariye and funny man Mark Allen — also a DMVer.
“Nick and I have been hanging out together for five years, ever since we got here,” says McSorley. “He’s one of my closest friends. We both come from Northern Virginia, so he’s someone I knew of and knew in high school” — Scott at Fairfax High, McSorley 24 miles to the southeast at Briar Woods in Ashburn in suburban D.C.
“Nick is the same person off the field that he is on the field — full of energy, goofy, fun, always cracking jokes,” says McSorley, whose humor tends more to the wry and dry. “He’s always in your face and always around you. He’ll stand there, in your face and smiling while he’s doing it. On the field, he plays with a lot of speed and is always around the ball.”
WHERE SCOTT IS GREAT
After a redshirt season in 2014, Scott saw limited time at running back in 2015, when he carried the ball 39 times for 133 yards, with one TD, and had four receptions for 43 yards. That season, he was best known for his pair of pass completions, a 32-yarder to Chris Godwin against San Diego State and a 14-yard throwback scoring toss to quarterback Christian Hackenberg against Illinois. He had one start at running back that season, against the Illini, when he rushed eight times for 57 yards.
Scott moved to the safety in 2016, appearing in 13 of 14 games, but he spent most of his time on special teams, where he has shined. He saw more time at safety in 2017, starting once against Maryland. Over the past three seasons, Scott has led the Nittany Lions in special team tackles, with 26.
Phil Galiano, Penn State’s special teams coordinator who coached special teams at Rutgers and in the NFL with both Tampa Bay and Miami, says that Scott — who runs a 4.47 and squats 540 pounds — is the prototypical player at that spot.
“When I look at it, there have been a bunch of different special teams guys throughout my career,” Galiano says. “But when I look at what Nick Scott has done for this program, to me — right away, even though I wasn’t the coordinator last year — he’s one of my favorite guys and most productive guys I’ve ever seen play on special teams.”
Back in 2015, Scott was even an accomplished kick returner for Penn State. He returned 13 kicks for a 23.8-yard average. Career-wise, his 19 returns for a 23.6-yard average ranks him tied for 14th all-time at Penn State, ahead of such previous PSU KR men as John Cappelletti (23.1 ave., No. 17) and Larry Johnson (22.8 yards, No. 19).
THE NICK SCOTT FAN CLUB
“Nick is willing to do anything he can for this team. It doesn’t matter what it is,” says McSorley. “He’s going to be the guy running down the field on the kickoff or, if you asked him, he’d be the holder for field goals. He just wants to be a part of helping us win. That’s why he’s a captain on our team.”
Terry Smith, the Nittany Lions’ cornerbacks coach, is a former Penn State co-captain. And a darn good one at that.
In 1991, Smith led the 11-2, third-ranked Nittany Lions in receptions (55), average per catch (15.4 yards) and TD receptions (8). Smith knows the legacy and responsibilities that come with being a captain at PSU, a leadership position he shared with guys like Al Golden, Darren Perry and Mark D’Onofrio.
“Nick is a returning captain. He is the voice of our defense,” says Smith. “His leadership is unparalleled on the team.
‘Nick speaks like a coach. He commands the locker room. … He extends the coaches’ message to the guys and runs that locker room.”
