UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Nick Scott came to Penn State as a high energy running back, but after a visit with teammates to Penn State's Hershey Children's Hospital his freshman year he quickly realized his legacy needed to be about more than what transpires on Saturday's in the fall.
“I wanted to make sure I left my footprint somewhere other than the football field,” Scott said this week.
Scott, a senior who is in the mix for one of the two vacant starting safety spots this spring, will have a chance to make a difference elsewhere starting Friday at 6 p.m. as he stands for 46 hours in the Bryce Jordan Center as part of Penn State's annual Dance Marathon weekend. Thon, the largest-student run philanthropy in the world, raises money for the fight against pediatric cancer. Scott will join football teammate Charlie Shuman as part of the 700-plus dancers who will help fill the Bryce Jordan Center until the annual fundraising total is revealed Sunday at 4 p.m. More than $10 million was raised during last year alone.
It's an event that's equal parts physically and mentally taxing as dancers like Scott won't be able to sit or sleep during the 46 hours, something he's been gearing up for during the past month. While dancers are encouraged to cut out caffeine, increase exercise and lay off candy in the lead up to the event Scott, consistently one of the team's top performers in the weight room, said he hasn't altered his already regimented diet too much ahead of this weekend. He's making sure he's getting enough sleep and while he won't train at 5 a.m. on Friday like the rest of his teammates as winter workouts roll on, he did say that his love of candy might be put to the test this weekend.
"Candy is one of my passions," Scott said with a laugh, adding that it's also part of his game-day routine. "I love sour Airheads. ... I can tell you like any candy by the bag. I do always have a bag of those on game day in my locker. I eat half before the game and the other half at halftime for like a little sugar burst. That's probably why I'm always dancing on the sideline. ... It's a sugar high you guys have been witnessing."
Scott, a self-described kid at heart, said one of the motivating factors behind him wanting to raise money for Thon and wanting to dance in it is because of what he saw during that first team trip to Hershey Children's Hospital his freshman year. Being instructed to take proper precautions at the hospital, like washing hands and making sure not to mention certain aspects of the child's disease to them opened his eyes. The memory of a 13 year-old girl he met during that first visit won't be far from his mind this weekend.
"I felt like we really connected,” Scott said. Just 2-3 weeks after the team's visit he learned that the girl passed.
“It was tough," he said. "She was a young girl. She was sweet, smart, all those things — and we lost her to a terrible, terrible disease. From that point on I knew I wanted to do more for Thon."
And that's why Scott welcomes the squirt gun fights, silly string battles, hula hoops and hoopla that comes with Penn State's annual event. He'll look for the 6-foot-8 Shuman -- who is dancing for the second consecutive year -- to chat with when the event seems endless. Scott said he'll also tear through coloring books and whatever else they put in front of him as another way to pass the time. While he's in the BJC many of his teammates will spend part of the afternoon over in the football building giving tours of the facility and entertaining the kids and families impacted by pediatric cancer.
Scott's teammates, including close friend Johnathan Thomas, will pay him a few visits during the weekend as well. He'll also see how the football team's newest members perform in a choreographed dance that'll be done in front of 16,000-plus people on Saturday night.
That annual rite of passage that plays out in the public eye is usually highly entertaining and is something they take pretty seriously. So yes, expect to see video somewhere this weekend of 5-star Micah Parsons dancing while sporting a Penn State jersey in public for the first time.
PSU football team's Thon dance pic.twitter.com/ahMugV6J3i
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) February 19, 2017
Part of the #PSU football team's dance at the Thon rally. Improved recruiting classes = much better dancers pic.twitter.com/HtcT5fRQzy
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) February 21, 2016
“I’m really excited,” Scott said of the weekend. “I’m a little nervous, just about the physical aspect of it because I know it’s going to be hard. A lot of people say it’s going to be hard. ... But, as long as I remember why I’m doing it, I think it’ll be fine.”