Senior tight end Mike Gesicki warms up earlier this season. - WAISS DAVID ARAMESH / FOR DKPS

Snyder: Doesn't get much better than this for Penn State

Oct 28, 2017 • 12:00 am

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – James Franklin is a man on the go and is seemingly so nonstop, bouncing from one obligation to another, making sure everything within his control – all the way down to the last detail – is hammered home.

He calls it the standard operating procedure, or SOP, and some might say it’s typical coaching paranoia, but whatever it is, it’s gotten No. 2 Penn State to this point, one that has the Lions hanging onto their highest ranking in the Associated Press poll since 1999 and has Happy Valley bounding with the type of enthusiasm that only comes with teams of elite caliber.

It’s what had Old Main Lawn packed one week ago for ESPN College GameDay’s first visit since 2009 and also why some local restaurants and bars have been accepting reservations for this afternoon’s showdown against No. 6 Ohio State for the past month.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

This is the game circled on the calendar for Penn State, a matchup of epic proportions with all the reminders of just how quickly Penn State rebounded from NCAA sanctions that when levied in 2012 were expected to cripple the program, one that some argued would be more detrimental than the death penalty that was dealt to SMU's football team 30 years ago.

Much like the Lions’ Big Ten title run last season and the team’s trip to the Rose Bowl, this is all bonus for a program that was expected to struggle to land recruits, one that a few years ago couldn’t even field a three-deep roster at certain positions and was trotting linemen back and forth from one offensive line to another, switching jerseys on the field during the team’s spring scrimmage because depth was so scarce.

It’s a remarkable turnaround aided by a pair of coaching staffs and a crop of players who bought into a program when other teams were trying to sell them on reasons why Penn State shouldn’t even be considered. It’s a part of Penn State’s past that many fans don’t want to revisit and understandably so, but it’s also why this narrative of what’s transpired when the cards were stacked against Penn State is so unique. Those who bought into this program when it was at its lowest point are continuing to reap the rewards this season.

Take senior tight end Mike Gesicki as an example. Gesicki picked Penn State over Ohio State back in 2013, giving Bill O’Brien his verbal pledge. While Gesicki, the nation’s top-ranked tight end in his class, labored through a coaching change and a freshman season where the Lions went 7-6 and ended up in the Pinstripe Bowl, Ohio State went 14-1 and won a national title.

It would’ve been easy and even natural for him to second-guess his decision – after all, how many people say no to Urban Meyer? But sitting here today as an NFL prospect and one of the biggest matchup mismatches on the field, Gesicki’s buy-in at Penn State paid off.

“Ohio State went on to win the national championship and people were tweeting at me. All that kind of stuff,” Gesicki said this week. “I knew it was a long journey and there’s a lot that goes on. Ultimately I’m happy where I’m at. I couldn’t have made a better decision. … I think that when you make that decision when you’re a 17-, 18-year old in high school, it’s easy to second-guess yourself, but now I’m sitting here as a 22-year-old senior who has kind of been through the fire and seen it all and I’m happy where I’m at. I don’t second-guess at all.”

Through it all, Franklin, a man of relentless pursuit with quite a bit of conviction, made one of the program’s most important phone calls. He delivered the kind of message that was bold and direct, a statement that you’re from Pennsylvania, we want you and you’re coming here. The then-teenager on the other end who obliged is a big reason why the Lions are sitting here at 7-0 and pushing for a shot at the College Football Playoff.

That player, of course, is Heisman Trophy frontrunner Saquon Barkley, the smiling face of the program who couldn’t be a more perfect fit for Penn State on or off the field.

“We called him, got him on the phone when we first got here, maybe two weeks [after],” defensive line coach Sean Spencer recalled this week. “We offered him a scholarship and it’s just how humble he is. He was like, ‘I just got an offer from Penn State?’ We’re like, ‘Yeah, man.’ He’s like, ‘That’s unbelievable. Oh my God, I can’t believe it.’ We’re like, ‘You’re the real deal [laughs]. We’re not just throwing an offer out there at you. We see something in you that we think you can be special.’ ”

“It’s almost like a storybook of a person where you say, ‘I’m going to create the perfect guy to come in and play college football and the perfect guy to be a leader on your team,’ and that’s Saquon,” Spencer continued. “It’s almost like the story that writes the book of the perfect specimen and it’s him.”

And Barkley came along at the perfect time, too. He’s another chapter in a storied program that hasn’t had a Heisman finalist since Michael Robinson finished fifth in 2005, let alone a winner, like John Cappelletti in 1973.

Add in quarterback Trace McSorley, the player who had the inside track to Penn State largely because Franklin and his then-Vanderbilt staff were one of the few schools who thought the 6-foot-1 'athlete' could play quarterback at the next level. While most schools viewed McSorley as a safety, tight ends coach Ricky Rahne headed out to Briar Woods, Va., one morning to observe a workout where he was quickly sold on this high school quarterback.

“I watched his tape and I thought he was a really good player,” Rahne recalled this summer. “But I didn’t know how big he was — I didn’t know this, I didn’t know that. But I thought he was a really good football player. So I took [the tape] to our defensive coordinator, and he liked him — offered him as a safety.”

That defensive coordinator was Bob Shoop, who came with Franklin and staff to Happy Valley for a couple seasons before heading to Tennessee. But Rahne still wasn’t so sure this McSorley kid’s best position was safety.

“I wanted to watch him throw,” Rahne said. “I went and watched him throw the first week of that spring. It was a 6 a.m. deal. By 7 a.m., we had offered him. ... Once I saw him throw in person, it wasn’t hard to sell him [to other coaches on the staff].”

Rahne bought in and McSorley did as well.

With a star-studded offense like the one that’ll run out of the tunnel Saturday afternoon at the Horseshoe, Penn State is now an easy sell to recruits. They can look at a team that’s gone 16-1 since last September, features arguably the top player in college football and has a fan base that’s as rabid as ever after seeing this program through to better days.

Whatever Penn State is selling, it’s certainly easy to see why so many – including the droves of fans in white who littered Columbus on Friday evening – are fully invested. Whether or not that return on investment results in an inside track to the Big Ten title game and College Football Playoff will be determined by Saturday night.

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