‘Every guy on this team is a soldier’
How Penn State overcame adversity against Illinois, throughout season
It officially came to a close on Saturday night. The season that Penn State head coach James Franklin and his players spent over a month lobbying for from mid-August to mid-September finally concluded.
Though it ended with Penn State routing Illinois, 56-21, in Beaver Stadium to cap off a fourgame winning streak, it’s hard to imagine this was the season anyone in the program envisioned.
“But that’s life,” redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford said. “And that’s adversity, and that’s why you go through it.”
And, boy, was there ever a laundry list of adversities this group of Nittany Lions had to overcome.
There were the in-season losses of key players — star redshirt junior running back Journey Brown had to medically retire because of a heart condition and standout sophomore running back Noah Cain and All-American junior tight end Pat Freiermuth both suffered season-ending injuries. There were also the sacrifices everyone on the team had to make because of the coronavirus pandemic, like not seeing their families or friends for months.
And, of course, there was the program-worst 0-5 start — which undoubtedly took a toll on the team’s morale and players’ mental health just as much as anything else.
Still, many Nittany Lions say all of it was worth it.
“Any chance we get to fight for each other and with each other, it’s 100 percent worth it,” junior receiver Jahan Dotson said. “We
had a lot of guys whowere able to show what they were capable of doing this year.”
Penn State never once looked like the team that was ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll, but it did showflashes of what could’ve been — especially over the last four weeks. The Nittany Lions could’ve quit after losing five consecutive games to open their season. But, instead, they rallied to turn things around, even when it seemed like there wasn’t much left to play for.
They won each of their final four gamesoftheseasonbyatleast two scores, showing the college football world that they hadn’t completely fallen off the map.
Senior safety Lamont Wade said himandhisteammatessticking together through a rocky year speaks volumes about the “brotherhood” they share.
“After the 0-5 start, boys could’ve opted out, boys could’ve started complaining — anything could’ve happened’“Wade said. “Butwestucktogether; wefought through it. Every guy onthis team is a soldier. Weknew you’ve gotta fight through adversity — that’s kinda the lesson of this year.”
From the first play of the game on Saturday night — a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Nazareth High grad Dotson — to the last run as the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Nittany Lions were visibly having fun.
To some players, like sophomore linebacker Brandon Smith, there was a lesson in going from “dark” times early in the season to again finding enjoyment in the game.
“From the start of the season, knowing that we had adversity, to now, I can definitely say that we know for a fact that we can conquer anything that weputour minds to,” Smith said. “We dealt with adversity in many ways and then now, looking at what we’re able to do, when we actually wanna do what we wanna do, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Dotson said he knew even before the season began that him and his teammates would have their “backs against the wall.” With the pandemic alone, the circumstances werefarfromideal.
But whatthis season taught the team is invaluable to the junior.
“We learned that we have a bunchoffightersonthis teamthat won’t back down for anything, won’t back down for their brothers and will just fight till the end,” Dotson said.
And after all, they did manage to find some enjoyment through all of it.
“I’ve always said it’s just fun to play with these guys because they make me look good,” Clifford said. “And I’m just very thankful for them.”