Trace McSorley admitted on Thursday that he watches “The Bachelorette.”
Which is a big deal, for a couple of reasons:
We know McSorley tells the truth. He’s up on his pop culture. And he’s human – he did more than just lift and throw a football over the summer.
But the biggest reason? He now knows that winning JoJo is a good indicator of a James Franklin quarterback’s mojo.
Which is important. To be a big-league quarterback, on and off the field, you need to be smart, a competitor, able to withstand pressure, perform on the big stage and come through in the clutch. It also helps to be charismatic and focused.
Jordan Rodgers fit that bill. While he was the starting quarterback for James Franklin at Vanderbilt for part of the 2011 season and all of 2012. And he did it again this summer, when he beat a field of 25 other suitors to win the hand of JoJo Fletcher on the popular TV program.
McSorley also saw those qualities in real life from Christian Hackenberg. As Penn State’s backup quarterback in 2014-15, he had a front-row seat for watching how Hackenberg — who was drafted by the New York Jets in the second round in May and is now in their NFL training camp — handled the spotlight and the microscope that comes with being a Nittany Lion QB.
“Christian never got too high when the spotlight was huge or got too low when people were really bearing down on him,” McSorley said.
McSorley — the presumptive Penn State starting quarterback who as a high schooler first declared for Vandy when Franklin was the head coach there — is a team player. Once he found out Rodgers starred for Franklin at Vandy, where he was 11-8 as a starter, McSorley was all in.
“I did get into it a little bit in the end,” said McSorley with a boyish grin at Penn State’s Media Day in Beaver Stadium. “I first started paying attention to it when I learned of Jordan Rodgers’ Vanderbilt connection. I followed (the program) on Twitter. Then towards the end of it I watched a few episodes. I liked it more than I thought I would. Never met him, though.”
AN INVITATION FROM CJF
McSorley might get the chance. Franklin publicly invited Jordan and JoJo to a game at Penn State this fall.
“I’d love to get Jordan and JoJo on the sideline for a game,” Franklin said after I asked him if he was a fan of the show, thereby jump-starting this whole thing. “I think that would be pretty cool. Open invitation, Jordan and JoJo to Happy Valley…”
One hour later, McSorley was pumped: “When I saw that Coach Franklin invited him and JoJo to a game – if they want to come, I’ll hang out with them and say ‘hi.’”
A few hours later, Rodgers replied to an invitation from Penn State football’s official Twitter feed with an emphatic yes:
@PennStateFball @coachjfranklin those core values stuck with me #3- compete in everything you do — a trip to Happy Valley will def happen
— Jordan Rodgers (@JRodgers11) August 4, 2016
Rodgers threw for over 4,000 yards and ran for almost 500 more, with 30 touchdowns running and passing against only 15 interceptions for Vandy in 2011-12, after two seasons at Butte College. He had a stellar senior season for Franklin with the Commodores, completing 191 of 319 passes (59.9%) for 2,539 yards, with 15 TDs and only 5 picks. He engineered wins over Auburn, Ole Miss (21 of 36 for 279 yards, with two TDs), Tennessee and Missouri, as Vandy won its final seven games with Rodgers under center. Rodgers tried to break into the pro game and follow in the steps of his estranged brother Aaron, the Green Bay quarterback, but he couldn’t stick. This fall, he’ll be an analyst for the SEC Network.
Franklin admitted he knew in advance how The Bachlorette would end – with Rodgers asking Fletcher to marry him – after attending a wedding over the summer that included some former Vanderbilt players. “So we had a pretty good idea of how that show was going to end ahead of time because I talked to his buddies,” he said.
WHAT RICKY SAYS
As a trio, Penn State tight ends coach Ricky Rahne knows Rodgers, Hackenberg and McSorley better than anyone. Rahne was the quarterbacks coach at Vanderbilt in 2011-13 and the Penn State quarterbacks coach in 2014-15. He didn’t watch The Bachlorette, but his wife Jennifer did. He also followed his former pupil’s quest via Twitter.
“I know who he is, I know what he’s all about,” Rahne said. “I didn’t really want to have that colored by how things are edited to be on TV. I got updates and summaries from my wife. Jordan is a good guy. I did see some snippets because it was all over Twitter. He’s kind of a goof. He does some goofy things. But that’s who he really is. He’s a good person. He always came over to my house. My kids love him and my wife loves him. The (Bachlorette producers) made him out to be this guy who had this grand master plan and I don’t really see that being him.”
Rahne compared Hackenberg and Rodgers, noting that there are lessons McSorley can learn from both.
“They both had experience being in the spotlight,” Rahne said. “Jordan had it from his family, with pressure being Aaron’s brother. Christian had pressure being so highly rated in high school and things like that. It gave them a little bit of a head start handling that pressure. They both did a great job at it. They have some similarities – they both are very smart football-wise. Their stature and things like that aren’t the same. But they both were very smart football players. Trace benefited from watching Hack do it.”
McSorley agreed with Rahne.
“The biggest thing for me was that whatever was going on with the spotlight or however hard people were coming down on him, Christian always left that at the door when he stepped foot into Lasch,” McSorley said. “He was always able to stay right and stay in that even-keel lane. He was ready to work, ready to improve, ready to get better.”
OFF THE FIELD
When it comes to relationships, McSorley might be best served to follow the lead of his former teammate. In contrast to the whirlwind reality show courtship of Rodgers and Fletcher, Hackenberg has been together with another former Penn Stater, Tatum Coffey, for a number of years, dating back to their undergraduate days.
A former Nittany Lion lacrosse standout, Coffey is a fulltime pharmaceutical sales rep in New Jersey, and just finished her first season played pro lacrosse for the Long Island Sound, which won the inaugural UWLX league championship last weekend. She’s also a lax club coach and personal coach, as well as a cardio boot camp and step class instructor.
All of which no doubt helps keep her boyfriend in step as well.
Franklin said he couldn’t be happier about the summer connections made by his ex-QBs – Rodgers off the field and Hackenberg on it. But, understandably, most of his attention is on his current signal-caller.
“I’m so excited about both those guys,” Franklin said. “Excited about Christian and his future. Excited about Jordan and his future, whatever that may be. But most excited about the guys that we have in our program and their futures.”
