Column: Spirits are high as PSU enters second half of the season
It’s called a ti leaf lei, and for Koa Farmer, wearing one has become game-day tradition.
As part of his family heritage, his mother, Shirley, braids the horseshoe-shaped necklace out of leaves from the Hawaiian ti plant. Then each week, she packages one up and sends it as a blessing in the mail from their home in Lake View Terrace, Calif., to State College, Pa. Before Farmer straps up his shoulder pads each game, the lei goes on first.
“Guys have a good luck shirt that they’re wearing underneath their pads. This is my thing,” Farmer said, still wearing it for a postgame interview after Penn State’s 38-14 win against Maryland in week six. “My mom makes it every week and she sends it to me, and it kind of keeps the bad spirits away.”
It might have helped ward off some wrongdoing against the Terrapins, as Penn State picked up its most persuasive victory of the James Franklin era. It was a must-have win, and heading into the off-week, that victory and the one that preceded it, a 29-26 overtime thriller over Minnesota, provided a well-timed sense of validity to what this team has been working so hard for. For so long it was mostly a talking point; now it’s more tangible and proof that the program is trending in the right direction, right before playing the biggest opponent of the season.
Coaches and reporters can talk until blue about the progress and the gradual development of players, but not until it is actualized on the field can an entire fan base begin buying in. That’s what started when Penn State blasted the Terrapins. The evidence was between the lines. A “signature win” as everyone seems to call it, one over a top ranked opponent, remains on the to-do list, but baby steps here. The commanding performance against a Maryland team that was hoping to keep it close was what the coaches needed most to reinforce their message and maintain speed ahead, as they welcome No. 2 Ohio State to Beaver Stadium Saturday.
This far into Franklin’s third season in a profession that rarely gets the benefit of patience, what helps job security most is to do exactly what PSU did against Maryland, a former employer and a possible thorn in the side of the Nittany Lions’ rise. By throttling the visitors by three touchdowns, Penn State sent a statement to its neighbors that no matter how large of a recruiting splash a new hire creates, no matter how many five- stars they pull away from the early favorites, the hardest part is making it happen on the field when it matters most. On Oct. 8, Penn State did just that.
Following back-to-back games in the series that were settled by one point apiece, national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell of Rivals.com called the PSU- Maryland matchup one of the most consequential on the docket that weekend. “The Terps not only want to send a message to in-state prospects that they are the better Big Ten option,” Farrell wrote, “but also want to increase their presence in Pennsylvania.”
Not this time. When PSU rang the victory bell on that misty Saturday afternoon, it provided a validation of sorts to those who worked the hardest for it. “This was a big game for us,” quarterback Trace McSorley said. “We knew that.”
Making it even more significant was that some of the largest individual contributions came from the players who were recruited by Franklin, guys like Farmer and McSorley.
They’re also who first sparked the recruiting momentum under Franklin, and if that momentum is to sustain itself into year three and beyond – or even catch a second wind – those players are going to be the reasons why that happens, too.
Farmer’s example symbolizes it all.
While a host of recruits in the Class of 2014 had been committed to Vanderbilt – McSorley, Grant Haley and Amani Oruwariye, to name a few – Farmer was still taking calls when Franklin got the job and had been committed to Cal. But he had been talking to Franklin and Ricky Rahne for years while they were at Vandy, so when they told him about their plans at PSU, Farmer quickly bought in, becoming the first four-star prospect to say yes to Franklin at his new stop.
A California native who had been wooed by many of the Pac-12 teams, Farmer was the headliner of Franklin’s first class. At the time, too, it was the proof that fans needed of Franklin’s recruiting prowess.
Until the Maryland game, however, Farmer’s career had been relatively quiet. Primarily an offensive player in high school, he bounced back and forth between different positions on Penn State’s defense before finally appearing settled at linebacker when he broke out against the Terrapins. When he blitzed the edge and buried his facemask in between the digits on Perry Hills’ jersey, sending the ball flying, it marked Farmer’s arrival – maybe not as soon as some had hoped, but definitely not too late. If anything, he’s right on time.
With Farmer only halfway through his second season, the best is still very likely ahead. And the same goes for the majority of the athletes on Penn State’s roster, the second-youngest in college football.
It also shows that no matter how highly rated a recruit, everyone’s potential emerges at different times. It just takes patience, and like Farmer, they’ve got to keep sprits high while they wait.