{"id":72607,"date":"2025-02-26T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=72607"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:32:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:32:58","slug":"trace-is-mcsorley-needed-at-penn-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/02\/26\/trace-is-mcsorley-needed-at-penn-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Trace is McSorley Needed at Penn State"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the latest long list of offseason changes, Penn State announced former Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley<\/a> as a new offensive analyst and assistant quarterback coach.\u00a0 After a successful collegiate career, he spent a few years in the NFL, with the last season with the Washington Commanders.\u00a0 However, he now returns to the college game working for James Franklin, his former head coach.\u00a0 It is hard to imagine a better fit to ignite the fanbase and the players.\u00a0 Importantly, Trace is<\/em> McSorley needed at Penn State.<\/p>\n

The national championship aspirations of Penn State entering next season will hinge on the play of quarterback Drew Allar<\/a>.\u00a0 A physically gifted passer with a cannon for an arm, there were rumblings that Allar would forgo next season to enter the NFL Draft.\u00a0 However, he is returning to Happy Valley for his senior year.\u00a0 Looking to improve upon last season\u2019s College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal appearance<\/a>, Allar will need to accomplish something that has eluded him so far.\u00a0 He needs to win the big game. Having McSorley on board as a coach and mentor will help with that.<\/p>\n

Trace is<\/em> McSorley Needed, and Missed, at Penn State<\/h2>\n

As a Nittany Lions quarterback from 2014 – 2018, Trace McSorley was a letterman from 2015-2018.\u00a0 For his Penn State career, McSorley completed 59.3% of his passes, throwing 77 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.\u00a0 He was also a threat running the ball.\u00a0 On the ground, McSorley gained 1,697 yards and scored 30 touchdowns.\u00a0 However, McSorley brought more to the team than just passing and rushing statistics.\u00a0 He was a winner and a leader on the team.<\/p>\n

A sign of a great quarterback is the ability to win big games.\u00a0 McSorley frequently stepped up to those challenges with the Nittany Lions.\u00a0 At Penn State, a quarterback\u2019s legend is established and refined by how he performs against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan and in bowl games.\u00a0 Through his three years as a starter, McSorley had mixed results against the big-time opponents.\u00a0 For instance, facing Michigan in 2017, McSorley completed 17 of 26 passes for 282 yards with a touchdown and an interception.\u00a0 He also ran for three touchdowns in that game.\u00a0 Conversely, in a 2016 contest against Ohio State, McSorley only completed eight of 23 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown.\u00a0 He added a rushing score in that game, too.\u00a0 Overall, though, he stepped up when it came to playing the tougher opponents.<\/p>\n

What endeared McSorley to Penn State fans was the winning mentality he brought to the gridiron every time he stepped on the field. He was not the biggest quarterback at six feet tall and 202 pounds.\u00a0 However, his no-quit attitude made him a great teammate, a leader, and a fan favorite.\u00a0 Because of the potential of adding that swagger and attitude to Allar\u2019s game, Trace is<\/em> McSorley needed at Penn State.<\/p>\n

The Enigma: Drew Allar<\/h3>\n

Drew Allar fits the mold of a prototypical successful pocket passer.\u00a0 Following last season, despite NFL Draft rumors, he stuck with his plan of returning for his senior season.\u00a0 That means Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will need to work diligently to maximize the remaining games with Allar as a Nittany Lion.<\/p>\n

Adding to why fans of the Nittany Lions could and should appreciate Allar, he is originally from Medina, Ohio.\u00a0 Rather than staying in Ohio, Allar came to Pennsylvania to play at Penn State.\u00a0 His overall statistics have held up as well.\u00a0 Last season, Allar completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,327 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.\u00a0 He also ran for six touchdowns.\u00a0 However, in the biggest games, he has struggled.\u00a0 A representation of this was the semifinal game against Notre Dame.\u00a0 Allar threw for 195 yards while completing 12 of 23 passes.\u00a0 He did not throw a touchdown but was intercepted once.<\/p>\n

For both Allar and the team, it is imperative that he performs well in the biggest spots this coming season.\u00a0 While McSorley had the luxury of handing the ball off to Saquon Barkley, Allar works with arguably the best running back tandem<\/a> in the country, which is Nick Singleton<\/a> and Kaytron Allen<\/a>.\u00a0 However, Allar will be breaking in a new set of receivers<\/a>, with Kyron Hudson<\/a> and Devonte Ross<\/a> replacing Trey Wallace<\/a> and Omari Evans<\/a>.\u00a0 These players\u2019 ability to quickly mesh will be needed to replace the production of tight end\/running back\/quarterback Tyler Warren<\/a>.\u00a0 Allar will need to lead the group and step up in the big games.\u00a0 He has a new mentor to help with that, and this is the main reason why Trace is<\/em> McSorley needed at Penn State.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Dan Rainville \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the latest long list of offseason changes, Penn State announced former Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley as a new offensive analyst and assistant quarterback coach.\u00a0 After a successful collegiate career, he spent a few years in the NFL, with the last season with the Washington Commanders.\u00a0 However, he now returns to the college game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":72612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,35610],"tags":[32817,79,837,309,7524],"class_list":["post-72607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-andy-kotelnicki","tag-college-football","tag-james-franklin","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-penn-state-quarterbacks"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72607"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72614,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72607\/revisions\/72614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}