Penn State's Trace McSorley Shines In Lopsided Blue-White Scrimmage

By Jason Shawley

Penn State picked up a 37-0 victory in Saturday’s annual Blue-White scrimmage at Beaver Stadium. It sounds like a pretty crazy thing to say considering they were playing, well, Penn State, but it makes more sense than you might originally think.

In any spring game, fans want to see the projected starters play well and for everyone to come out of it healthy. The blue squad, which was composed of the current first-team, played up to expectations and laid a thorough beating on the players further down the depth chart.

The storyline that most fans in attendance were anticipating was the quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore Trace McSorley and redshirt freshman Tommy Stevens. One will be the successor to Christian Hackenberg, who’s eagerly awaiting the 2016 NFL Draft.

Hackenberg suffered an injury in January’s TaxSlayer Bowl which forced McSorley into action a little earlier than expected. He struggled in the first half, but whatever was said in the locker room made a difference as McSorley nearly led the team back against Georgia. It left fans with a shred of optimism for the future.

McSorley is listed as the first-team quarterback and there was hardly anything in the Blue-White game that would presently change that. The 20-year-old from Ashburn, Va. completed 23-of-27 passes for 281 yards and four touchdowns. He also threw an interception in the first half.

Stevens also had impressive moments with the white squad. He didn’t put up the numbers that McSorley did, but considering he was running with the team’s reserves, he’ll continue to receive consideration for the starting job.

Another encouraging aspect was offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead‘s new offense that fans got their first glimpse of. It was nothing more than a glorified practice so we haven’t seen everything yet, but what we did see was a lot more interesting than John Donovan‘s scheme.

James Franklin says it’s a neck-and-neck competition and that it’s still anyone’s job, but McSorley seems to clearly have the upper hand based on game experience and this exceptional performance.

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