It seems like there’s nothing Trace McSorley can’t do at quarterback.
Or at least try to do, anyway.
The list might be longer than the 72 inches that are Penn State’s junior quarterback.
Comeback victories. Designed QB draws. Pass rushers grasping at air.
Reading the RPO. Dink passes, wheel routes, Gesicki crosses, deep shots to Andre and Chris and Irvin. Throwing the ball away. And after some early-season dropsies, holding onto the ball as well.
Not to mention decoding and interpreting all those hand signals and backups and Uber signs on the sidelines, the method through which Joe Moorhead delivers his madness.
Threw (pun intended) six games as a starter and a trial run (intended again) as the top quarterback in the TaxSlayer Bowl, McSorley has a lot more options than just R and P. The arrows in his quiver are enough to make an opposing D-coordinator…well, quiver.
And now, midway through his first collegiate season as a starter, he continues to do more and more and Moorhead.
That’s by design. More and less.
MORE MCSORELY
McSorley is deferring more to his offensive coordinator’s wishes that he defer less to Saquon Barkley (to Barkley’s benefit). He’s gaining more confidence. And hesitating less. It shows. The Nittany Lions are 4-2 and have won more games in a row (two) since last October than they have in the preceding 11 months, thanks in good part to an O-line that is less inclined to give up sacks (just three over the past eight quarters).
“I think it really helped us, “ said James Franklin after the game, “getting Trace more involved in the running game, whether it’s called quarterback runs or whether it’s RPOs, where it’s a pass, to grey reads where you’ve been handing them. We’ve been telling him when you think you can get to the edge and beanpole it and get on the edge…
“It’s just one more thing that you have to deal with in defense… I do think it helped Saquon. And I do think it continues to help our offensive line out in protection with some of the play-action things that we’re doing as well.”
Here’s another thing about McSorley: Even his mistakes show how good he is. Or can be. Often, they are errors of commission instead of omission. He’s always thinking.
McSorley doesn’t hesitate – literally — to throw the ball away, if a receiver isn’t open. Sure, it got him called for an intentional grounding in Penn State’s 38-14 win over Maryland on Saturday. But that’s the point: It was intentional. No sack, no harm, just a foul.
And sure, he was over the line of scrimmage when he improvised a play that took him over the line of scrimmage while completing a 14-yarder too Chris Godwin. But he was making something happen, out of the pocket. Not out of desperation, but through perspiration combined with healthy doses of inspiration and preparation.
THE PENN STATE QB CLUB
We’ve not seen a Penn State quarterback like McSorley.
Yes, a decade ago there was a magical runner and leader from Virginia, named MRob. And Daryll Clark, at 22-4, made things happen with the Spread HD.
And yes, three decades ago there was a thinker and winner who had an absurd winning record, named John Shaffer (66-1 as a starter, beginning in seventh grade and running through JVs, Moeller High School and Penn State).
But McSorley wasn’t the physical force that was Michael. He’s more instinctive and shifty than Clark. And although he’s 59-7 as a starting quarterback (55-5 at Briar Woods, 4-2 in Nittany Valley), he’s a far better athlete than Shaffer.
He runs like Mills, possesses the moxified confidence of McGloin (though not as overt), is humble and spiritually grounded like Blackledge, and patiently waited his turn like McQueary. But he passes like none of his Penn State quarterback brethren. McSorley lacks the pure power of a Hack, of a Collins. But he makes do with what he has, and is precise and bravehearted. He visibly puts his heart, soul and focus into every throw. He is full of purpose.
He showed it when he repeatedly and patiently climbed the ladder last week against Minnesota. He showed it twice in the third quarter against the Terps, with his precision-point cross-field sideline dart that he muscled to DeAndre Thompkins on a high-risk six-yard out and, one drive later, with his pump-and-go, max-protection bomb to Thompkins that resulted in a 70-yard TD.
MATURE McSORELY
It’s not like he’s a kid. McSorely turned 21 the day (Aug. 23) Franklin and Moorhead told him he was the starter. He is two-and-a-half years into his Penn State career, a junior in the classroom who is – with mid-terms approaching – about exactly 70% through the normal four years a student spends at Penn State. He was a four-year starter in high school.
But he’s young in this way: When his predecessor, Christian Hackenberg, was at this juncture of McSorley’s college career, he was just seven games removed from the NFL. McSorley isn’t there, of course – as an RPO guy, he may never be. A half-dozen starts and three quarters of a B-level bowl game at the famed Everbank Field do not a career make.
So we’ll be careful with the hyperbole. After all, counting the TaxSlayer, he’s 4-3 as The QB.
There was that end-of-the game pick against Pitt, an ill-advised throw to some not properly advised receivers on a play that may have been ill-conceived, if only in its anxiousness. But remember the context: To get to that point, McSorley brought the Nittany Lions back from a 28-7 deficit, as his offense outscored the hosts 32-14 in an offensive flurry in the unfriendly confines of Heinz.
That experience served McSorley well against Minnesota. Penn State was down 13-3 at halftime, but came back to outscore and outpoise the Gophers 26-13 over the final two quarters and overtime. His clutch third-and-10 20-yard pass to Godwin, followed three plays later by a clutch third-and-3 26-yard scramble, were the hallmarks of an 8-play, 53-second drive that set up the field goal that sent the game into that OT.
TRACING THE STATS
McSorley, so far, has some big-time numbers. He ran for 81 yards against Maryland. He had 408 yards of total offense (third-most in PSU history) against Minnesota. In five games this season, he’s thrown for eight touchdowns and is 103 of 177 (58.2%) for 1,436 yards, with just three interceptions.
But more than the numbers is seemingly what is at the heart – and in the heart – of Richard Thomas McSorley III: He does what he needs to when he needs to make a play. But he is learning to not overplay his hand, either.
Which is good, because the stakes get much higher in two weeks, when Ohio State comes to Beaver Stadium. The Buckeyes are the gold standard, as is their quarterback J.T. Barrett – a consummate runner and passer and leader and winner.
The Buckeyes and Urban and Barrett are the measuring stick. For the division, for the conference, for most of college football, having lost just four times over the past five years.
McSorley will be compared, contrasted and tested. But knowing what we now know about him, it’s likely he’s already studying.
