Despite a career-ending injury, Jake Zembiec is still in the game

After his state championship-winning sophomore season at Aquinas Institute in Rochester, N.Y., Jake Zembiec believed that he would possibly go on to play in the NFL.

Zembiec had already started to garner scholarship offers, ultimately picking Penn State over Oklahoma State and Michigan State. He would go on to become New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year after winning a second state title his senior season. And as a January enrollee in the Nittany Lions’ Class of 2016, he appeared poised to battle Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens for an opportunity to lead the team immediately.

Were it not for the constant pain in his right shoulder, a sensation so uncomfortable that he couldn’t sleep and would get nauseous while throwing, those aspirations might have come to fruition. But he had arrived at Penn State with the nagging injury and spent his first two years on campus rehabilitating, undergoing surgery, and rehabilitating some more. Eventually, he decided to end his playing career, quietly announcing in August 2018 that he was retiring from the game.

“Once I got hurt, playing doesn’t do it for you anymore,” Zembiec said. “It’s not as fun when you go to practice and your job is to throw, and when you throw, it hurts, every time. Once that happened, it slowly took the love out of the game for me.”

Approached that summer by Penn State’s coaching staff about an opportunity to remain with the program on a medical scholarship, Zembiec took some time to process the gradual fading of his original aspirations. But the joy he had experienced playing the game in high school had long since diminished, so Zembiec pivoted.

He couldn’t be happier about it.

“I was like, absolutely. I think this is definitely something that I would love to do,” Zembiec recalled. “I had been checked out for a while where I had been going through too much crap for so long. I don’t feel like I’m ever going to be good enough to play to the level that I need to be able to start here. And so, I’m basically playing in pain, knowing I wasn’t going to be able to progress at all. When I made that decision I was extremely happy and still am. I don’t regret it at all.”

Taking a new path, Zembiec has assumed a role with the Nittany Lion football program that has allowed him to continue to have an impact. He was an unmistakable presence on Penn State’s sideline last season, and now he’s rounding out his fourth year in the program in the same player-coach role. Trading his No. 7 jersey for a polo shirt, navy khakis and most notably, a headset and red baseball cap, the former four-star quarterback acts as one of a series of signalers into Penn State’s offense. Complementing the get-up, Zembiec also wears a thick horseshoe mustache and a handful of gold chains around his neck.

Head coach James Franklin has always encouraged those in his program to take ownership of their roles, no matter how big or small they may be, and Zembiec has become a prime example of that process coming to fruition. He is a liaison to the players, with the ability to bring instruction and insight to the quarterbacks room, and his influence extends well beyond the locker room, film study, or the practice field.

“I think he’s got great perspective. I think it shows guys there are all different ways to have a successful career here. It’s not always just with your contribution on Saturdays. It could be as a backup, could be as a scout team guy. It could be a Jake situation where he’s a medical,” Franklin said. “And still, he’s a huge part of the team and still has a connection to the team and to the coaching staff. And I think he really feels like he’s bringing value, which he is.”

To get to this point, Zembiec first had to embrace a new perspective. He had been drawn to football not so much by a love of the game as a passion for the elements at its heart: competition and teamwork.

“I liked being around the guys more than I liked the game itself,” Zembiec said. “I more liked the team atmosphere and things that you get from football as opposed to playing and learning the game of football. People ask me if I’m getting into coaching, just assuming from what my role is now, and no, I really don’t have any interest. I wish I did because I have a great path to get right into it starting off at Penn State, but my heart’s just really not into it. But, being around the guys and being able to give back to them and see them happy, it’s something that I would do forever.”

Instead of coaching, Zembiec has decided to pursue a career in physical therapy, a choice motivated in part by his own experience with rehabilitation. A kinesiology major who is expecting to graduate with a 3.85-or-higher grade-point average, he has channeled his passions into a new form, turning his attention to grad school and eventually a career as a physical therapist. He has offered to work in the Lasch Building offices if needed simply to have a presence with the players he has come to know so well. Zembiec has found it to be a path worth pursuing, and his coach agrees.

“We work really hard at keeping these guys connected and finding something that they may be passionate about,” Franklin said. “It may be the weight room, it may be coaching, it may be in the recruiting office, it may be in equipment. We find an area that they are passionate about and get them involved, and then keep them around the guys. It’s really important.”