Trace McSorley

Trace McSorley

Penn State Nittany Lions No. 9
Position	Quarterback
Class	Sophomore
Major	Business
Career history
College	Penn State (2014–present)
Bowl games	2014 Pinstripe Bowl 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl
High school	Ashburn (VA) Briar Woods
Personal information
Date of birth	(1995-08-24) August 24, 1995
Place of birth	Ashburn, Virginia
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	205 lb (93 kg)
Career highlights and awards
Big Ten Champion (2016) Big Ten Championship game MVP (2016) Second Team All-Big Ten (2016)
Stats at ESPN.com

Richard Thomas "Trace" McSorley III (Born August 24, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference.^[1]

Early years

McSorley attended Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Virginia from 2010 to 2014, where he started from his freshman year of high school. In his freshman year he led the team to a 13–2 record and a state championship. Two seasons later in his junior year, he led the team to a 15–0 record and its third consecutive state title. He was named First-team All-State by the Virginia Coaches Association and Virginia Preps. As a junior he was awarded All-Dulles District First Team; Dulles District Offensive Player of the Year; and Second-team All-Region quarterback.

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Trace McSorley QB	Ashburn, VA	Briar Woods HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	212 lb (96 kg)	4.53	Jan 20, 2014
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN grade: 79
Overall recruiting rankings:
‡ Refers to 40 yard dash Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height, weight and 40 time. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

College career

Redshirt freshman year

During McSorley's redshirt freshman year, he appeared in a total of six games, five of them when the game was in hand and McSorley was only in for a few plays.^[2] In the 2016 Taxslayer Bowl vs the Georgia Bulldogs, after then starter Christian Hackenberg went out with an injury, McSorley was brought in with Penn State down 24–3. He nearly led a comeback, finishing the game 14 for 27 with 142 yards and two touchdowns, however PSU fell short 24–17.^[3]

Redshirt sophomore year

With the departure of Christian Hackenberg, who was drafted in the second-round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the New York Jets, McSorley and redshirt freshman Tommy Stevens had to fight for the starting spot. On McSorley's birthday August 24, 2016, head coach James Franklin announced that McSorley would be the starter. In his first game as a starter on September 3, against Kent State, he went 16 of 31 for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 33–13 win.^[4] In McSorley's second game, he threw for 332 yards and a score in a rivalry game vs the Pittsburgh Panthers. Later in the season when the Nittany Lions played Minnesota, McSorley put up career high yardage numbers when the threw for 335 yards in a 29–26 OT win.^[5]

On October 22, 2016, Penn State and McSorley played Big Ten rival Ohio State. McSorley struggled with accurately throwing the ball, completing 8 of 23 passes for 153 yards. However, he scored two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing, en route to a stunning upset of No. 2 Ohio State by unranked Penn State.^[6] The win gave PSU a No. 24 ranking in the AP Poll, PSU's first ranking in the top 25 since the 2011 season.^[7] The next week vs. the Purdue Boilermakers, McSorley completed 12 of 23 passing for 228 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. The Nittany Lions won in a 62–24 rout over Purdue.^[8]

In a week 12 matchup vs rival Michigan State Spartans McSorley threw for career high 376 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. After going 17/23 a completion percentage of 73%, and rushing for 13 yards in a 45–12 win giving Penn State a Big Ten Championship game berth the first in program history.^[9] On November 30, 2016, McSorley was named Second Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media.^[10] With a third quarter completion to DaeSean Hamilton, McSorley broke the Penn State single-season record for passing yards. The sophomore started the night fourth on the single-season list, but passed Christian Hackenberg, Daryll Clark and finally Matt McGloin’s 2012 mark on Saturday night en route to taking over the No. 1 spot.

McSorley finished the game with 384 yards on 22 of 31 passing with four touchdowns in an MVP, Big Ten Championship winning performance. He now has 3,360 yards in his first season as the Nittany Lions’ starter.

"Trace has been dynamic all year long," head coach James Franklin said after the game. "I'm really proud of him, you know, his attitude, his demeanor, the type of teammate he is, the type of leader he is. Obviously he made plays tonight."

The sophomore led the Nittany Lions back from a 28-7 deficit and broke the Big Ten Championship Game record for passing yards, set by Michigan State’s Connor Cook back in 2013, and touchdowns. His 364 total yards was also a championship game record.^[11]

Statistics

Reference^[12]

Honors and awards

• Big Ten Champion — 2016
• Big Ten Championship game MVP — 2016
• Second team All-Big Ten — 2016

Records

• Most passing yards in Big Ten Championship game — 384 yds
• Most passing touchdowns in Big Ten Championship game — 4 TDs
• Most single-season passing yards by Penn State QB — 3,360 yds

Personal

Son of Rick and Andrea McSorley, he has one younger sister, Micaela. His father played football at the University of Richmond and an uncle, Jeff McSorley, played football at Marshall University. He enjoys playing organized and pick-up sports and video games. McSorley plans on majoring in business at Penn State.^[13]

McSorley has a tattoo on his left biceps consisting of a cross with the bible verses Psalms 23:4 and Phillipians 4:13. He has said that the message behind the tattoo is "always pulling me in the right direction" in and keeps him grounded and true to his roots.^[14]

McSorley is a Christian.^[15]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trace McSorley.

• Trace McSorley on ESPN
• Trace McSorley Penn State Bio