McSorley now focused on cohesion and team chemistry

He wasn’t getting impatient. Instead, Trace McSorley kept pressing forward, focused on each practice, each snap, each throw. “Just try to focus one day at a time,” he’d tell himself.

But when he was informed during a recent early morning meeting with head coach James Franklin and offensive coordinator Joe Moorehead that he had been selected as Penn State’s starting quarterback, ending a competition that began last winter, the news was met with rejoice.

“I was excited,” McSorley said. “It was kind of a weight off my shoulders. It’s been a long process since the begging of January, when all this started, so it was definitely a relief and a weight off my shoulders.”

Franklin announced publicly Wednesday night that McSorley, a native of Ashburn, Va., had won the race for PSU’s starting QB spot against redshirt freshman Tommy Stevens. In the end it was McSorley’s experience – two years as Christian Hackenberg’s backup – that eventually won out in an extended battle of two competitors with similar skill sets.

Franklin emphasized that the final call between McSorley and Stevens was more difficult than many media and fans might have projected, calling the choice “a gut decision.” The raw data and statistics suggested the two were relatively equal in terms of production, he said, but, it was McSorley’s experience in game action, specifically the bowl game against Georgia, that helped give him an edge.

No matter how heated the competition was throughout the off-season, McSorley said he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“All the credit to Tommy,” McSorley said. “He had a great camp. He pushed me and made the team better. This team will be better because of how this competition went with us pushing each other. “

Franklin said there will not be a two-quarterback system employed, so with McSorley at the helm, full attention shifts to Kent State and fine-tuning the final aspects of Moorhead’s newly implemented offense before Sept. 3.

McSorley said the first focus is upon "trying to start to build that cohesion. That’s something that Coach Moorhead is talking about, now that we’re flipping that switch. Getting ready toward that game one and getting anyone who might be banged up through camp – let’s get back to full health and then start building that cohesion and start building that kind of team chemistry that we need on offense.”