Leadership is good.
Leadership on a young team that has already played 22 freshmen – 17 redshirt, 5 true – is essential.
But leadership that leads to victories, especially like Penn State’s 31-30 win over Maryland at M&T Bank Stadium, is best.
That’s what Penn State linebacker Troy Reeder, a redshirt freshman who led the Nittany Lions with 10 tackles here on Saturday, thinks.
“It’s cool to see how the older guys handle situations,” Reeder said. “That’s the best way to learn, from great players in front of and behind you, and to see how they respond. Their leadership helps pull everyone together, whether it’s on the sidelines or out there on the field with them.”
That leadership was not just tested, but actually further forged in a wild game against a Maryland squad that was coming off a bye week where its head coach, Randy Edsell was fired, and offensive coordinator Mike Locksley was elevated to the top job. He pulled out all the stops.
The result featured seven lead changes, five turnovers by Maryland and three by Penn State, trick plays so far-fetched that Penn State’s 6-foot-7, 302-pound offensive tackle Paris Palmer lined up at wide receiver (he was open, too), and a battle of quarterbacks that couldn’t have been more different.
Maryland’s Perry Hlll ran 26 times for 124 yards and passed 28 times, completing 19 to the Terps for 225 yards and three to the Penn State secondary, in the persons of Grant Haley, Trevor Williams and Malik Golden – the latter two coming in the final eight minutes to seal the victory.
On the other passing hand, Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg threw for three touchdowns and 315 yards, completing 13 of 29 passes on his way to setting Penn State career passing records for yards (7,453) and completions (608). Each deep throw was like a big counter punch to the Terrapin’s underbelly, with completions of 40, 38, 38, 37, 31, 27, 27, 20 and 17 yards.
OLDER PLAYERS, BIGGEST PLAYS
A key aspect of the Nittany Lions’ win was that the older players were the ones mostly making the biggest plays. Williams and Golden are in their fourth season. Hackenberg has started all 33 of his games at Penn State. And while the PSU receiving corps comes in all sizes and ages and may be as many as eight deep, it was the experienced players who stepped up on Saturday.
DaeSean Hamilton, who caught five passes for 96 yards and a TD, is in his third season. Geno Lewis, a redshirt senior, had just one catch, but it was for a 17-yard TD in the fourth quarter that gave Penn State the lead for good. Chris Godwin is a sophomore with the maturity of a senior, grabbing four passes for 135 yards and a touchdown, while going up, around and in front of Maryland’s defenders.
“We have a team that has a lot of experience at this point, like in the secondary and at wide receiver,” Reeder said. “It’s really cool to see them grow not only as players but in leadership roles as well. They’re all taking on their own style. Some are vocal leaders, others lead by example. They’re the types of guys who play big in big situations. A lot of the older guys did that tonight.”
That includes junior linebacker Brandon Bell, whose blitz in the fourth quarter caused a key fumble and led to a chain of Maryland miscues and Nittany Lion defensive stops. Reeder and fellow linebacker Jason Cabinda made big plays, but none was bigger than Bell’s. Overall, Bell had six tackles, one sack, 3.5 tackles for a loss and that forced fumble – despite playing with a myriad of injuries.
As Williams said, “Good things and bad things are going to happen. But we’re always going to have one another’s back.”
Freshman running back Saquon Barkley was largely a non-factor against a Maryland defense stacked to stop the pass, rushing 20 times for 65 yards, with two fumbles. The Nittany Lion offensive line came through in the passing game, and fifth-year senior Angelo Mangiro was a big reason why. He shifted from center to guard, as Wendy Laurent handled the snaps, and led a group that stayed together even when right tackle Andrew Nelson was injured at the start of the third quarter. Nelson was replaced by Brendan Mahon, who had lost his starting job at right guard to Mangiro.
“We’ve had a lot of moving parts,” Hackenberg said. “But the guys who have been in there for us are the ones who have been consistent.”
OLD GUARD
That consistency has led to a 6-2 record for Penn State and bowl eligibility. Mangiro is one of a very small subset of six players who began their Penn State careers five years ago under Joe Paterno. Their resiliency and leadership – leadership that is now translating into victories – is not lost on a veteran like Mangiro, who will turn 23 next month, or the younger Reeder.
“It’s something to be an honor to be a part of, something I’ll hold onto the rest of my life, to have been part of coach Paterno’s last class,” Mangiro said. “But right now that’s not a concern for us. We have a small senior class, a very tight senior class. We want to do whatever is necessary to keep winning and keep it going for one more week.
“We went to Ireland to start last season, when we didn’t think we would be able to go to a bowl game, and that was one of the best experiences of my life. Then we got the chance to go to a bowl game, and that was one of the best experiences in my life. It hurt deep for two years in a row I was not able to experience that. But we are now bowl-eligible, and need to keep winning. To experience that again with this group will also be the best.”
Reeder arrived on the University Park campus in February 2014, under a new head coach in James Franklin and some onerous NCAA sanctions that, at the time, kept Penn State from appearing in a postseason game.
“A lot of us came here and a lot of people stayed here knowing there was a chance we weren’t going to a bowl game at all – especially the older guys who stuck with the program,” Reeder said. “When I committed here, our class was expecting to get back to a bowl game late in our careers. It’s pretty cool we get an extra month to be together and to play another day.”
For his part, Hackenberg – who may very well turn pro after the 2015 season — has his sights set on something bigger over the next several weeks. For all the talk of 1-0 weeks and focusing on the task at hand, the Penn State quarterback twice gave a rare glimpse into the mindset that is part “us against the world” and part “us against the Big Ten East Division.”
The first time came in the second half, with the Nittany Lions’ offense stalling and Maryland in the midst of scoring on consecutive possessions to start the third quarter — turning Penn State’s 17-13 halftime lead into a 27-24 Maryland advantage. At that point, Hackenberg had a few words with his teammates.
“It was more about coming together,” he said. “I sensed we got a little flat there in the third quarter. We had an opportunity to come out and put the game away and we did it in a very tough way, but we still did it. That was the motivation. All the hours we put in, all the work we did, everyone who has been doubting us – use that right now.”
HACK’S GOALS
After the game, as the media crush around Hackenberg had subsided, he very briefly and uncharacteristically went beyond talking the game immediately behind him and the one – Illinois, next week at noon in Beaver Stadium – in front of him.
“We’re focusing on making sure we can add up the wins,” said Hackenberg, his team now 3-1 in the Big Ten and third in the division, behind 4-0 Michigan State and 4-0 Ohio State, and ahead of 2-1 Michigan.
“We want to go out and compete,” he said. “We’re a contender in our division. That has always been our goal.”
