No Names. Got Game?

In Tune with Penn State Football’s More-Spit-Than-Polish Tradition, an Underhyped Core of Key Players are Tasked with Turning Things Around

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Black Shoes. Basic Blues. No Names. All Game.

It’s a memorable slogan we all recognize, a sly bit of marketing attributable to Penn State’s former branding guru Guido D’Elia, who understood and cleverly seized on a paradox: The best way of preserving the program’s stoic, old school mentality in an age of disposable glitz was by embracing the sales process, packaging up its essence and proudly advertising it. The resulting catchphrase just might make an especially appropriate rallying cry for this year’s Nittany Lions, a group intent on emerging from the long shadow cast by a lost 2020 season that, however unconventional, nevertheless featured the worst start (0-5, friends, lest you’ve forgotten) in the august 134-year history of Penn State football. 

The team will undertake this task with a roster noticeably short on individual starpower. No Names.

Around this point in the Summer, the first real signs of Autumn’s approach start becoming evident in Happy Valley. The Town&Gown Football Annual joins the national preview mags on newsstands. The latest shipment of replica jerseys hits the racks of local outfitters. So whose face should grace the magazine covers this time around? Whose jersey number should Nike appropriate for one final season in the revenue-hoarding sun?  Recently, luminaries like Saquon Barkley, Trace McSorley, and Micah Parsons have been no-brainers in those roles. Owing to a variety of factors, this year’s team has no such obvious spokesman. 

That might be a good thing. Dating back to its days as an overlooked Eastern independent scrapping for a seat at college football’s grown-up table, Penn State has thrived with a chip on its shoulder. As the team looks to get back on track, maybe it will benefit from some perceived disrespect and a group whose mentality, by necessity, elevates the figurative “name on the front of the jersey” over the non-existent one on the back. Indeed, this state of affairs exists in no small part because of the way last season turned out. Many of State’s most promising talents were hurt, underwhelming, or both in 2020, and the team was historically bad. Partially as a result, the Nittany Lions have been conspicuously absent from the preseason hype circus. The “faces” of this year’s team are all of them and none at all.

Typically, a third-year starter at quarterback would be a natural choice for banner bearer, and Sean Clifford will certainly receive his fair share of attention. Not all of it will be positive. After Cliff followed up a promising inaugural campaign with a maddeningly inconsistent sequel, anxious fans are decidedly reluctant to embrace Year Three without a look at new OC Mike Yurcich’s reimagined version of the veteran signal caller. Jahan Dotson silenced doubters in his first season in the spotlight, turning in superlative performances as an explosive pass catcher and impact punt returner. New arrival Parker Washington wasn’t far behind. Those two were thoroughly overshadowed, however, by Ohio State’s Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, a similarly-spectacular pairing on a winning and relevant team. With both Buckeyes returning this Fall, that trend has extended into the offseason. Penn State has no shortage of talented options at running back, but the sheer number of guys on the cusp of breaking out works against any one of them monopolizing the preseason pub. Perhaps the most likely candidate for star status, Noah Cain, has been unable to stay healthy through his first two seasons.

This lack of individual starpower could actually be a disguised blessing in service of a return to form. Last year, as James Franklin battled through separation from family while managing in-house pandemic mitigation amid the Big Ten’s incompetent dithering, the structural integrity of his locker room failed. It is an open secret in Happy Valley that the disruptive presence of some out-sized personalities fractured relationships and hurt chemistry. This was self-evident to any observer with a functioning brain, but the public hints have been frequent and often less than subtle. Throughout the season, post-game interviews were littered with cryptic comments from frustrated players about team focus and dedication. James Franklin welcomed every 2021 recruit on National Signing Day by citing his desire for “low-maintenance, high-production” talent. In this context, two-time captain Sean Clifford’s comment this Spring about everyone at workouts “want(ing) to be there” speaks volumes. There’s a sense from the coaching staff on down that the decision to move on from the COVID-fueled nightmare of 2020 by opting out of a bowl game offered a necessary chance to reset and refocus, beginning a makeover process that saw both coaches and players come and go.

Several candidates could emerge as the face of the 2021 Nittany Lions. At this point, it feels like the offseason echo chamber has so thoroughly depressed expectations for Clifford that the bar for a comeback is set manageably low. Any number of skill position players, beginning with Dotson, but including multiple receivers, backs, and even a couple of tight ends, might break out if Yurcich’s offense delivers. Speaking of low expectations, after missing out on what promised to be Parsons’ legacy-making swan song, Nittany Nation is so desperate for a new hope at Linebacker U, former five-star recruit Brandon Smith (to date, the second-best Penn State LB of that name) will be crowned faster than Jon Snow by converting even some of his considerable potential into concrete production. If true freshman corner Kalen King can duplicate his dominance of Spring practice when it actually counts, the novelty of a new arrival with no baggage from last season’s debacle muscling his way onto the big stage will no doubt capture some headlines.

Of course, the fastest route to stardom may actually come for whoever makes the best Tik Toks or lands the most lucrative sponsorship deal.

That might be the most compelling aspect of James Franklin seeking to redeem and restore luster to the program with a squad of relatively anonymous players. The sea change currently rocking college sports promises to challenge the bedrock values that have girded Penn State football for a century. Technology enables any member of society to become a content publisher, and now new rule changes allow athletes to monetize their self-promotion for the first time ever. Can an egalitarian team-first ethos personified in simple uniforms with no nameplates survive the era of endorsement deals? Arguably, it poses a challenge even more daunting than the early-2000s swoon confronted by Guido and his marketing blitz, and it frames a season set up to define the narrative of Franklin’s career in a fascinating context.

If the 2021 Nittany Lions perform like we all hope, standout performers will inevitably capture the attention of media and imaginations of fans, but perhaps still within a framework consistent with Old State’s distinctive identity –  rising individually, but winning together as a team.

Chris Buchignani hosts The Obligatory PSU Pregame Show, entering its fifth season in televised syndication, with Brandon Noble, Mike the Mailman, and Kevin Horne.