Penn State Set for Pitt Visit Saturday
UNIVERSITY PARK – Pleasant pre-fall weather and a full house await the Penn State football team when it welcomes Pitt to Beaver Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Nittany Lions come in with a 1-0 mark after a 52-0 blowout win over Akron last Saturday while Pitt (1-0) had to hold off Youngstown State 28-21 in overtime.
Penn State Football head coach James Franklin met with members of the media earlier this week and announced staff player of the week picks went to the entire offensive line, defensive end Ryan Buchholz and DeAndre Thompkins on special teams for their performances in the Akron opener.
As for Pitt, Franklin noted the he and the staff were particularly keyed in on the Pitt special teams unit, specifically naming All-American return specialist Quadree Henderson as a unique piece of the group.
“He’s the guy you go into the game and you say who’s the guy that can be a game changer or a game wrecker, however you want to describe it,” Franklin said. “He’s that guy. So we have to have a plan for him to try to limit the impact that he’ll have in this game.”
In 2016, Henderson led the nation with a school-record three kickoff return touchdowns, also adding a punt return for a score last year.
Also meeting with the media was secondary starter Troy Apke. He has a few unique family connections with both of his parents former student-athletes at Pittsburgh, his dad a linebacker on the football team and his mother on the track and field team. Although too young to attend a game, he does have a few memories of some Penn State, Pittsburgh history from his dad.
“It’s kind of funny, my dad used to say every time he walks on this field for a photo shoot or media day, he tells me his blood is still on the ground because of when they played Penn State.
Jason Cabinda was made available to the media also. It’s no secret that linebacker is among the most respected Nittany Lion leaders on the team. As Franklin noted, Cabinda’s family foundation in the importance of education also makes him just as strong of a leader in the classroom.
“He’s an active listener,” Franklin said. “He’s an active learner. He’s on the edge of his seat. He’s nodding his head. He’s got great eye contact, and he’s the guy that you feel really strong is going and reinforcing in the locker room and Saturday night what the young guys should be doing, as well.”
When it comes to leaving behind his legacy after Penn State, Franklin said Cabinda is often one to reference modeling his approach to that of former Nittany Lion Mike Hull.
“I think he left an impact to Jason, and I think Jason is going to end up leaving an impact with the young guys that we’ve got in our program now, leaving a legacy that guys say, well, this is how Jason did it when he was here,” Franklin said. “I’m very pleased with him. “The last cherry on top is making sure that he leaves in December with his degree in economics.”
Watching 26
McSorley described Saquon Barkley’s 80-yard run from Saturday’s Akron game as if he was shot out of a cannon, noting that even sometimes it’s a little hard to keep focused when Saquon is doing Saquon things.
“I kind of had my eyes backside with the read but once I handed it off and by the time I looked up he was already 40 yards downfield.”
Starting quarter Trace McSorley’s talked about last year’s Pitt game when the Panthers opened a 28-7 lead and held on for a 42-39 win.
“I think early on that (the Lions’ second half comeback) was kind of a little confidence booster for us, being able to have that success and get it going. Obviously, it wasn’t one of the big moments because yeah, we weren’t able to finish it out and come away with the win, but I think if you were to look back on it and think about how we were able to have some success in that second half and claw and fight back and give ourselves a chance, I think that’s something that you can look back and say, yeah, that gave us a little bit of confidence moving on through the year.”
