Sunday Column: Spring Ball Wraps With a Tease of Traditions Restored

Friday night football in Beaver Stadium is not exactly normal.

But it helped Penn State take another important step back toward normalcy.

The coronavirus pandemic has not yet gone away, and it might very well still be around when the Nittany Lions open the season this September. They were nonetheless able to get a full slate of practices in this spring, culminating in Friday’s session open to media members, recruits, senior students, and (thanks to a spur-of-the-moment PR move that was either insane or genius) a few fans who spotted the ads for free tickets the team put out on Thursday night.

The fans who first came and were first served lucked out with the weather, a gorgeous sunset capping off a cool-but-not-cold April evening, and were treated to, by all accounts … well, another spring practice. Some highlight-reel plays, some head-scratchers, watered-down schemes, etc. Getting to watch football practice at a big-time program on occasion, as any reporter will tell you, is a treat; watching it on a regular basis is tedium.

After last year, though, when spring football was nonexistent and football of any kind was out of the question until late October, Penn State fans needed a treat, a taste of tradition, and Friday night’s practice, coupled with last Saturday’s scrimmage for freshmen, fit the bill.

There are few true certainties in life, but Penn State football never wanting for die-hard, passionate fans might be as close to certain as you can get (If you’re reading this column, you’re proof of that). It will take more than a season away from the old Erector set that is Beaver Stadium, even more than an 0-5 start, to drive fans away to the point they won’t come sprinting back as soon as there’s a game to be watched and a tailgate to be lowered.

 

The fans lucky enough to grab a seat in the bleachers on either weekend saw a team that should be deeper at most positions than the one that stumbled through most of last season, with the players who were thrust into action as true freshmen before they were ready now a little stronger, a little wiser and ready to push or be pushed by veterans or some intriguing early enrollees. They saw how some familiar faces looked at new positions, and caught a few former Saturday stars who now play on Sundays yukking it up on the sideline. They saw a team and a coaching staff hungry to atone for what was an embarrassing collective performance in 2020. 

An impressive group of recruits from multiple classes saw what recruits in the same boat had not been able to see for the bulk of last season – the stage on which the Nittany Lions perform for seven Saturdays per year. Maybe they liked the way the coaches conducted themselves or interacted with the players during the practice, or the way the students responded to the players, or maybe they looked at those players and thought, “Oh, I can definitely beat him out.” In any case, it wasn’t Beaver Stadium in all its Whiteout splendor, but it was one of Penn State’s most effective recruiting weapons on display.

There is a chance there might not be 107,000-plus in that stadium when the home season begins on Sept. 11 against Ball State, and it could have far less to do with enthusiasm of ticketholders than safety protocols or virus variants or whatever fresh hell 2021 can concoct in the next few months. We don’t know yet and won’t for some time. There’s also a chance the stadium and the tailgate lots will be packed. At least for a night, there were people in the stadium again, the pigskin flying around again. Fans got to watch, players got to play in front of fans, and they even sang the Alma Mater at the end.

It wasn’t a normal Friday night. But it hinted that normal might be not so far away.