Ask his Penn State teammates about backup quarterback Trace McSorley.
And their responses are nearly universal.
First, their faces light up.
“Trace is a great guy,” fellow sophomore Mike Gesicki said on Friday. “Always prepared to be the next man up. Always hang out with him, very close to him. Very much a Penn State guy – what you’d expect.”
Brent Wilkerson, Gesicki’s running mate at tight end, added with enthusiasm, “I’m looking forward to playing with that guy and seeing him grow in the spring. He works hard.”
Then, quickly, they mention his competitiveness.
“Trace is an amazing kid,” said starting offensive tackle Andrew Nelson during the team’s bowl media day. “Whenever Trace becomes quarterback of this program, I am excited for that day because he really is a competitor.
“That’s probably the biggest thing — he’s a baller. People say some players are ballers and that’s Trace. He does whatever he has to do to be successful. He is a competitor. He will do anything he can do to win.”
Starting Nittany Lion linebacker Troy Reeder’s opinion counts, too. In spades, if for no other reason than he is more than a bit like a defensive version of McSorley. Let us count the ways: redshirt sophomore, receding hairline, piercing eyes, simmering intensity, plays sideline to sideline, smart, class leader. From out of state, but pure hard-as-nails Penn State.
“We go against Trace a lot,” said Reeder. “Trace is a different type of animal. Super-athletic at the quarterback position. One thing I really value about Trace is his competitive nature. You can see it in practice. You can see it from his high school experience.”
There it is. They always mention McSorley’s legitimately legendary high school career.
“No one in the state of Virginia had more wins as a high school starting quarterback other than Russell Wilson,” said Reeder, who played his high school ball in Delaware. “Pretty impressive stat. In high school he played against some great players.”
McSorley’s high school career is common lore inside of Lasch Building. His head coach, James Franklin, brings it up with #awesome regularity. So do his teammates.
“Trace is a great guy — works very hard,” are the first words out of Wilkerson’s mouth, quickly followed by, “I don’t think he lost a game in his high school career, so he knows how to win.”
As a starter since his freshman season at Briar Woods High School in Loudoun County, Va., in suburban D.C., McSorley went to four straight Virginia state high championship games. (He won three.) He was 55-5 as a starter, winning 91.67 percent of his games. As a senior, he threw for 3,252 yards and 32 touchdowns, and ran for 892 yards and 13 TDs.
McSorley was originally going to head from Briar Woods — where he played with speedy Nittany Lion freshman Brandon Polk — to Vanderbilt. But when Franklin made the move from Vandy to Penn State in January 2014, McSorley followed. He redshirted in 2014, then saw limited action in 2015, getting nailed on a third-down single-play substitution of Christian Hackenberg against Maryland, but performing well vs. Michigan State. He was 5 of 8 for 39 yards and showed a good amount of composure.
Not a surprise. Teammates say McSorley is usually unflappable.
“He’s confident, he’s a field general, he’s a winner,” said wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton, another Virginia native. “He won 40-plus games in high school. I have no doubt about Trace going in and getting the job done.”
McSorley looks — and acts — older than the 20 years and five months he is. He has an old soul and is a standout in the classroom as well.
“Trace is a quiet guy. He’s even-keeled,” Hamilton said. “He doesn’t really get too worked up about things, especially with all the emotions that run through being the quarterback of Penn State football and all the people that have their eyes on you. I don’t think that affects him one bit. He’ll be fine with it.”
Then there’s the running thing. McSorley – shifty, fast, confident — can carry the rock.
“Trace has some strengths with his legs,” said Nelson. “You can see that. That’s evident in practice. He runs quarterback counters and” – Nelson snaps his fingers — “he’s gone. That’s exciting for the future as well. His competitive attitude is No. 1.
“When we put Trace in there, we have more quarterback runs than if Hack is in there. There was a quarterback counter in practice the other day. He took the ball and hit a play side and the ‘backer gap exchanged out. He just stuck his foot down and made the guy miss. He was gone to the house. That was exciting to see.”
Penn State’s new offensive coordinator, Joe Moorhead, knows what to do with a dual-threat quarterback. Kevin Anderson, his quarterback at Fordham in 2015, ran for 341 yards as a first-year starter, while Rams quarterback Michael Nebrich ran for 513 yards in 2013.
“Trace brings a different style than what we usually go against,” said Reeder. “It’s a dual-threat kind of thing where he just makes plays. Not only is he a good running quarterback, but we see his ability to make plays every day in practice. He’s sneaky athletic and quick. He has really good flat-line speed. When he gets out in space, he’s a special player.”
Linebacker Brandon Bell chuckles when asked to describe McSorley, who is listed as 6-foot-tall and 196 pounds.
“He’s a little fireplug kind of guy,” Bell said. “When we go against him in practice he’s bound to break a long run. Or he can throw it deep. You never really have an idea what he’s going to do. He has a great athleticism and he’s quick side to side. Deceptively quick.”
Wilkerson concurred: “He just makes plays — whether that’s throwing or running the ball. He keeps his eyes downfield and if nothing is open, he’ll take off.”
Hamilton, who has soft hands and a very cool demeanor, said McSorley throws a hard ball. But there’s a reason for that.
“Fast. Fast and hard,” Hamilton laughed. “He puts a lot of his weight into it. He and Christian throw the hardest balls of anybody. He throws hard. I don’t know why, but sometimes we’re doing walk-throughs and he throws hard.”
The reason? It may be part of his mental make-up.
“He doesn’t know how to relax, to chill out,” Hamilton said. “He’s intense. And when it comes down to it, he’s trying to knock your hands off when he’s throwing the ball.”
In August, sophomore wide receiver Chris Godwin gave McSorley’s passing arm its due: “His arm strength is his greatest strength. He has a great arm.”
Nelson’s not so sure about the arm. But he likes the results. It’s that “baller” thing again.
“Obviously, he’s not the tallest guy,” said Nelson, a good half-foot taller than McSorley. “He doesn’t have the best arm in the world, but he balls out. That’s what is really impressive about him.”
This may be the thing about McSorley, about which many of his teammates agree: He’s a leader.
In the minds of many Nittany Lions, McSorley is Hackenberg’s likely heir apparent. When Hack leaves, sooner rather than later, McSorley will be the starter, with necessary props to true freshman Tommy Stevens and incoming quarterback Jake Zembiec, who will enroll in January.
Wilkerson: “Trace has shown us that he’s capable of being a great leader.”
Reeder: “He came in and stepped into a leadership role, both in our class and the team in general.”
Nelson: “You know eventually Trace is going to step into that role as leader of this team at quarterback. Who knows when that will be? But he’ll be ready when that time comes.”
