STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- On any given spring morning a handful of college coaches would roll into the bleachers at Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Va., and shortly after the sun rose, they’d watch practice.
There was a talented receiving corps that helped Briar Woods win three state titles in four years, a 4-star outside linebacker who signed with Florida and Trace McSorley, an all-state safety who longed to be a collegiate quarterback. McSorley wanted to do everything in his power to show these coaches during these non-padded spring practices that his future wasn’t at safety, despite all the projections and many recruiters saying otherwise.
If the recruiters in the stands for these workouts believed what McSorley’s high school coach, Charlie Pierce, told them then, in all likelihood McSorley would’ve garnered more interest as a quarterback.
“People were concerned about his height, and the measurables are what a lot of people look at and stuff like that, but you can’t measure what’s inside the guy,” Pierce told me.
Now, following back-to-back 11-win seasons, a Big Ten title and a Fiesta Bowl victory as Penn State’s quarterback, it’s clear that what other schools missed, James Franklin and his staff were mindful of. It's tough to imagine where this program would be had its once-prized Vanderbilt verbal pledge not received an offer as a quarterback and then followed these coaches to Penn State.
What other coaches questioned about McSorley still irks Pierce.
“They were concerned about his throwing ability," he said. "I would talk to those guys ahead of time and say, ‘Listen, Trace is throwing afterward if you wanna stay and sit up in the stands and watch him throw.’ I was trying to help promote Trace’s abilities as a quarterback.”
So, Pierce did what any good coach would do, and the spring before McSorley’s senior season he constructed a pro day of sorts. After every morning spring practice, he'd give college coaches
the chance to see McSorley sling the ball around in hopes of changing their minds. Sure, they could watch his teammates, too, but McSorley was set on being a quarterback and needed the extra looks.
It didn’t matter if Pierce told the recruiters about the McSorley he knew, the quarterback who had to grow up in a hurry as a freshman when the team’s star running back and focal point of the offense broke his leg on the first play of the season. Sure, they could also see film of the dual-threat quarterback who was given so much freedom within the offense that he became masterful with run-pass options.
What they couldn’t hear was Pierce grumbling on the other end of the sideline ready to chew out the offensive linemen for a missed block, only for McSorley to somehow erase the mistake and end up in the end zone.
Pierce wanted those in the stands to see what he already knew.
When Ricky Rahne, the then-Vanderbilt quarterbacks coach and current Penn State offensive coordinator, watched McSorley’s tape, he saw more than a safety. Rahne recalled seeing a complete football player, and the former Cornell quarterback wasn’t convinced that the guy they offered as a safety was best suited to become a defensive back.
“I thought he was a really good player, but you know, I didn’t know how big he was, I didn’t know this, didn’t know that, but I thought he was a really good football player, so I took him to our defensive coordinator and he liked him, offered him as a safety,” Rahne recalled last season. “But then I said, ‘Hey, I want to watch him throw.’ I went and watched him throw that first week of spring and it was a 6 a.m. deal and by 7 a.m. we offered him. Once I saw him throw, it wasn’t hard to sell them.”
What did Rahne need to see during that workout? Well, some coaches want to see certain throws — and, of course, they want to see the measurements for themselves. Rahne said he doesn’t put too much stock into all the throws, but he did want to see McSorley deliver one pass in particular.
“The only throw I ever do kind of want to see when I was coaching quarterbacks was the seam, 18 to 22 yards, where he just sticks his foot in the ground and comes out," Rahne said. "In their offense, they had that in the practice I was at so I didn’t need him to do anything else, but you know, you want to see him make a variety of throws, deep balls, and more importantly you want to see him throw on time and rhythm, that he’s actually reading things and doing stuff like that, which he did a ton of.”
The workout wasn't “anything over the top” by McSorley’s own admissions, but as he walked off the field that spring morning the teenager recognized that he might’ve done more than enough to convince at least Rahne that he was indeed worthy of a scholarship as a quarterback.
“I ran up to Coach Rahne and said, 'Hey,' and he kind of had this look on his face, and I was happy,” McSorley recalled last season. “He just said, ‘I’ll give you a call later so just be expecting a call.’ I talked to him later and he had me on the phone with Coach Franklin and all that and that’s kind of when they told me, ‘Hey, we’re gonna recruit you as a quarterback now.’”
It was vindication for McSorley, who was so adamant about his quarterbacking abilities that Pierce recalled McSorley passing up a visit to Stanford because he knew it only wanted him as a safety. He didn’t have the 6-4, 6-5 pro-style build that some teams desired, but instead of that frustrating him, he made that disappointment and doubt his greatest weapon.
This spring, as Penn State looks to end the final chapter of McSorley’s collegiate career with a potential run to an NCAA title, McSorley will again hear the doubts — this time from those who question if this offense can succeed without Saquon Barkley and, in turn, if he has a shot to succeed next year in the NFL. It'll come back to the height question and the arm all over again, something McSorley has answered successfully throughout his playing career.
There's also the realization that this will be it for the trio of Rahne, McSorley and Franklin. Making sure they maximize that opportunity — one that started at a time when most others passed on the quarterback who has since helped revive this Penn State program — is something Pierce and Franklin discussed this spring.
“It's the last go-around with this guy and he’s gonna try to relish every bit of time he has with him,” Pierce said.