Elsdon finds a sense of community at Penn State

It happened in a flash.

During the third quarter of the Schuylkill League Division I championship on Oct. 25, North Schuylkill cornerback Jaden Leiby burst toward the line of scrimmage to tackle a Pottsville ball carrier who had just caught a screen pass. Tyler Elsdon, a linebacker in Penn State’s Class of 2020 and Leiby’s co-captain, joined the pursuit.

“I was scraping over the top and got hung up by two linemen,”Elsdon said.“I should have made the play. It was just one of those things, it was a bang-bang play. He came up, did what he always did, made a great tackle. It was a hard hit, and just in the blink of an eye things changed.”

On the hit, Leiby, who doubles as North Schuylkill’s quarterback and had already scored three touchdowns that night, fractured his neck and was unable to move. He was stretchered off the field before being airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital.

Although his team was ahead in the game, Elsdon felt the shift in emotion after seeing one of his best friends loaded into an ambulance. He decided that he and his teammates had to respond as best they could.

“We made it a positive at the time,” Elsdon said. “We said, ‘We’ve got to finish this for him.’ Since then, we played with raw emotion, aggression, played some of our best football after that. ... We took it as a drive, more energy, because we knew that’s what he would want us to do.”

The three-star prospect said Leiby’s injury gave him new perspective before his college career began. As the team’s leader, Elsdon said he wanted to be a “rock” for his teammates and to talk to anyone who needed reassurance. The Spartans prayed after practices and carried on the idea of playing each game like their last – a mantra Elsdon said Leiby repeated every day.

North Schuylkill held on to beat Pottsville and won its next game, a District 11 playoff matchup a week later, before Elsdon’s senior season ended with a loss to Tamaqua. At each point along the way, the community showed its support for Leiby – who is currently at a rehab facility – with hashtags, bracelets, rally towels and his No. 6 painted on the field.

“Whenever anything tragic happens, you really learn more about yourself and more about the people around you,” Elsdon said. “It made me more grateful for the area I’m from, because the community is so tight and everyone came together, and I think that’s really remarkable.”

It’s the same kind of community Elsdon said he’s excited to join when he arrives in University Park as an early enrollee in January. Elsdon, who is listed at 6-foot- 2, 230 pounds, committed to Penn State in June only a couple of days after he received his scholarship offer.

His choice will allow him to remain close to his home in Ashland, Pa. That, along with the history and tradition at Penn State, made his decision easy, he said. He also believes in the people who are driving the program.

At some other schools, he said, “you go around, you start to see people, and things don’t add up, words don’t add up to a face. But everything with Penn State was clear as day. Most welcoming staff, most supportive staff, just care about the people, and I think that’s a big difference with Coach [James] Franklin. He obviously wants to win and does a great job and is moving the program in the right direction, but he also wants you to win as a person.”

Elsdon said he also looks up to Brent Pry, who will double as his defensive coordinator and position coach. The linebacker prospect sees Pry as a role model because of his interactive coaching style.

Elsdon is excited to play at a school known for developing high-level players at the second level.

But he also knows he’ll likely have to be patient before breaking through.

“If they ask me to do something, I’m going to do it,” Elsdon said. “I’m just going to work, step by step. ... I just want to be on the field. If they want to put me on offense at fullback, I’d do that. I know they don’t like the power-I stuff anymore, but that’s what I do. I’m not a selfish guy. I’ll get on the field any way I can. If they want me to hold kicks, I’ll hold kicks. I’m just going to do my part and take it day by day.”

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