Blue/White Weekend Recap

On Saturday, Penn State held its annual Spring game between the first team and the second team.

Here are the storylines from the day:

McSorley Impresses

With Christian Hackenberg gone, many have wonder who will be under center on September 3rd against Kent State. We may be closing in on the answer. Redshirt sophomore Trace McSorley started for the Blue team (the expected first team) and put on a show, throwing for 281 yards (23-27) with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. His counter part Tommy Stevens did not play bad, but given the team around him, he had trouble getting anything going.

Moorehead’s offense Could Work

First year offensive coordinator Joe Moorehead had been working hard to put in place as much of his spread system as he could for the game, and it looked pretty good. The Blue team routed the White 37-0 behind an impressive offensive showing. We already touched on how good McSorley was, but the offense as a whole was fast, efficient, and hard to stop. McSorley connected with nine different targets and Mark Allen and Andre Robinson both showcased their running ability with the absence of Barkley( healthy scratch).

The offensive line has also showed improvements and will be the deciding factor on if this offense can work in the Big Ten.

Big recruiting Day

Franklin and staff hosted scores of top recruits, and came away with a couple of huge commitments. The first was 4 star OL C.J. Thorpe, the 6’3 318 linemen from Pittsburgh Central Catholic held offers from Alabama, Auburn,  Michigan, Pitt, and others but choose the Lions. He becomes the 5th commit in the 2017 class. The second was 3 star OL Robert Martin from New Jersey. The 6’5 265 prospect choose the Lions over Rutgers and Boston College.

Penn State also helped its case with 4 star linebacker Avery Roberts who is expected to decide on Thursday, he is down to the Lions and Nebraska.

As Spring practice winds down, the Summer practice will help us get a clearer picture on if McSorley can secure the job, who the starting offensive linemen will be, and if the defense can recover from its big loses due to the draft. Stay tuned.