Filed under: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Big 10
Matt McGloin should not be the starting quarterback at Penn State, but that does not mean the Scranton, Pa., native is unworthy. The 6-foot-1 former walk-on did throw 58 touchdown passes in high school, after all.Still, the redshirt sophomore should at best be backing up fellow Keystone State native Terrelle Pryor. Except that Pryor, who grew up in Jeannette, Pa., chose Ohio State over Happy Valley.
Then McGloin should be the understudy to Bethlehem, Pa., native Dan Persa, whose mom and sister are Penn State alums. But Persa, a redshirt junior who leads the nation in completion percentage (73.4 percent), toils for Northwestern. The Nittany Lions showed little interest in Persa during recruiting.
Even with Pryor and Persa, veritable All-Big Ten candidates, out of the mix, McGloin should be No. 2 on the depth chart behind Pat Devlin. Remember him? Devlin spent three seasons at Penn State before transferring to Delaware. He's now the only FCS quarterback among the 10 finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. That honor is bestowed upon the nation's top senior QB.
Even then ... true freshman Rob Bolden beat out McGloin, no? Bolden even started last Saturday vs. Northwestern. Then again, it was McGloin who led all five Nittany Lion touchdown drives in the 35-21 comeback win. It is McGloin who will be able to tell his grandkids that he engineered Joe Paterno's 400th win. It was McGloin, two weeks ago, who handed the ball off to Evan Royster when the senior broke the Nittany Lion career rushing record.
This Saturday? The former walk-on from the fictional home of Dunder-Mifflin gets the start in front of a 105,000-plus at the Horseshoe in Columbus. And there's another milestone McGloin can shoot for: in eight previous visits to Ohio State since joining the Big Ten, no Penn State quarterback has thrown a touchdown pass.
Given the odds that McGloin has overcome to get where he is, though, would you bet against him?
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Source: http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/11/10/big-ten-harvest-matt-mcgloins-wild-ride-to-the-top/
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