They can’t all be Saquon Barkley.
Nick Scott figured that out during his second season at Penn State, when he switched from running back to safety. Six years later, the seventh-round draft choice will start for the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl, the latest – but probably not the last – in a decent-sized line of Nittany Lions who took non-traditional journeys to productive NFL careers.
There might have been something in the water in that 2014 recruiting class, James Franklin’s first at Penn State. Sure, there were stars then who remain stars now – Chris Godwin, Mike Gesicki – but there were many more players in that class who had to take a leap of faith, a huge swallow of pride or a hard look at the path they thought they were on for their paths to continue.
Scott’s Rams teammate, linebacker Troy Reeder, seemed destined to add to the legacy of Linebacker U after a redshirt freshman season that put him on the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team. And then he transferred – and this was before transferring was cool – to … Delaware. A three-time All-CAA selection, he joined the Rams as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2019 and has started 30 games – including each of the team’s last five playoff appearances – over the last three seasons.
