‘You can see,’ James Franklin said while sharing his vision after Penn State’s practice on Wednesday night, ‘the evolution in the players.’
Minutes later, as if on cue, Mike Gesicki jogged past 40 reporters.
And the senior tight end kept on running, as he does after almost every practice — winter, spring, summer and fall.
Gesicki ran until he stopped at a five-man blocking sled at the edge of Penn State’s artificial turf practice field.
This is his ritual.
This is what Michael William Gesicki of Manahawkin, New Jersey, does. We have him seen him do it at almost every media availability the past two years.
That is when he is not throwing and catching a football with other tight ends, wide receivers and/or quarterbacks. Or, often, after he is done throwing and catching a football with other tight ends, wide receivers and/or quarterbacks.
After practice.
There may be no one on the 2017 roster who has been more evolutionary during his time at Penn State than Mike Gesicki. He also might have been the most revolutionary player for Penn State in 2016.
You decide. Gesicki already has.
TOUGH SLEDDING
‘Mike’s a stud, huh?’ I asked veteran safety Marcus Allen on Wednesday, as Gesicki methodically pounded the blocking sled in the background of Allen’s Q&A with a bunch of reporters (watch Allen and Gesicki in the video at the end of the story).
‘Mike? He’s aight,’ Allen playfully retorted, while his assembled audience chuckled. ‘He’s doing that for the cameras.’
Allen knows the truth. Cameras or not, No. 88 hitting the sleds — five dummies, all wearing No. 1 — is Gesicki’s post-practice ritual.
A far cry from his freshman year, when he beat it out of regular practice post-haste. Back then, while gathering in the parking lot behind the practice field to b.s. a bit, reporters would often see Gesicki exit stage right ASAP to hit the training table, riding shotgun in a star player’s pick-up truck.
Not any more. The sled is his frenemy.
Back as a 237-pound freshman in 2014 and a 250-pound sophomore in 2015, he was a tweener and a big-time Tweeter. Then he caught the droppsies in 2015 and dropped Twitter. Like a hot potato. Gesicki had only eight receptions for 85 yards in Penn State’s first six games of 2015. He bottomed out against Ohio State on Oct. 17, 2015 — he didn’t catch a single ball in a 38-10 loss before 108,423 witnesses in The Horseshoe.
Gesicki’s luck had run out.
TWEET THIS
With six games left on the 2015 schedule, Gesicki started to refocus (or, more accurately, to truly focus for the first time), in part by eliminating social media from his diet. Gesicki posted a Tweet two days before the Ohio State game, musing Mikey-like about 52 degree weather in Happy Valley. (The day before he was riffing on a haircut by Saaed Blacknall.)
He didn’t return to Twitter until 81 days later.
Then he was gone for 366 days more, until Jan. 4, 2017. He came back as Mike, not Mikey. No more kidding.
Since then, he’s had three reTweets — about a Rose Bowl catch, a winter workout dunk and a power lift.
The Twitter Tally: Five Tweets in 532 days.
In between was a record-setting 2016 season, when Gesicki grabbed 48 passes for 679 yards, with five TDs. He led the Big Ten in receptions by a tight end and was No. 7 nationally. He broke a bunch of PSU records held by guys named Kwalick, Quarless and Shuler, all NFLers.
In 2016, he had 12 catches for 20 or more yards, including game-busters of 40, 45, 45, 52 and 53 yards.
As a heralded four-star freshman out of New Jersey in 2014, he made only 11 catches. Overall. The next year, as an even more-heralded sophomore, he had only 13 catches. In his first two seasons, Gesicki had exactly one game with three receptions. In 2016, he had 10 (two 3’s, four 4’s and four 5’s).
If it seems like Gesicki was always in the game — and on the ball — in 2016, it’s because he was. Research by Andrew Callahan, the analytics savant and future NFL scout now with Lions247 (a good Twitter follow: @ACallahan_247), reports that Gesicki played more than 700 snaps in 2016 — right around 90% of all of Penn State’s offensive plays from scrimmage. Backups Tom Pancoast (9%) and Jonathan Holland (4%) accounted for about 13% of all snaps — allotting for a few two-tight end Moorforamations — and, uh, zero catches.
So yes, Gesicki needs to thank Franklin, Joe Moorhead, Ricky Rahne and Trace McSorley for all that. But most of all, he needs to thank the tight end in the mirror.
MORE FROM MARCUS
On Wednesday after practice, after his initial ‘aight’ diss, Allen had no problem dishing about how great Gesicki is.
‘He’s an unbelievable athlete as a tight end,’ said Allen, not so bad himself. His 33 career starts at PSU rank No. 2 on the team, while Gesicki is tied for No. 5 with 23. ‘Mike’s a prime example of what everybody’s doing.’
Gesicki, Allen noted just as Franklin did minutes before him, is just one of many who are working beyond the standard practice schedule.
‘Mike’s a prime example of what everyone’s doing,’ said Allen, who asked for, received and has thus far delivered on a more visible leadership role heading into the 2017 season. ‘As you can see, everybody’s getting in their extra work.
‘Coach Franklin, Coach (Brent) Pry, every coach is preaching for us to get in extra work at any time you can. So you can be the best you can be.’
Gesicki bought in awhile ago. And while we’re not sure if Gesicki believes in evolution or not, it is now apparent that he doesn’t rest — even on the seventh day.
