Penn State Football: Freiermuth Talks Decision to Return

Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth had already announced that he was set on returning to State College for his junior season, but one of the nation’s best went into greater detail about his decision on Friday afternoon while talking to reporters.

“There was definitely some serious talk about me leaving, and I was thinking about it, but at the end of the day, when I talked to my mother and my father, they kind of were just like, ‘think about if there is a season,’” Freiermuth said.

“There was a point in time when I was kind of like, I don’t care, I just want to move on to the next chapter. That’s kind of what my mentality was with just kind of being strung along, but when the Big Ten decided to come back, I knew that, right then and there, that I was excited to play.”

Freiermuth had previously announced his intention to return to Penn State following the Nittany Lions’ 2019-20 season. The then-sophomore was eligible for the NFL Draft, three years removed from high school. Freiermuth had never announced any intention to walk back that decision, but following the Big Ten’s postponement of the 2020 season, reports surfaced that indicated Freiermuth would likely opt out of the upcoming season and turn pro.

Ultimately the conference’s own reversal on the upcoming season, one that is now less than a month away, helped push Freiermuth back towards his previous decision making talented linebacker Micah Parsons the Nittany Lions’ only COVID related departure.

“Everyone on this team loves football, and I think everyone in the whole country of America loves football,” Freiermuth said. ‘I just think that it’s great to have the game of football back and some normalcy and stuff like that. I’m very excited to play.”

For fans that are still stewing over the ‘what if’ of Parsons’ career in State College, Freiermuth enters 2020 with a chance to be named the nation’s best tight end.

‘I made a commitment to Penn State that I’d come here, get my degree and play as long as I could. At the end of the day, I still owe so much more to this Penn State community than it owes me.’

And if thing goes well, Freiermuth will have nine or 10 games to continue to pay off that debt.