Yes, it’s true, recruiting news and tracking the top recruits, in any sport, is not my forte. For my Penn State fandom purposes, the Jimmys and Joes or Wendy and Chloes become real only once they’re signed, pulled on a uniform and started competing.
Additionally, in our pay-for-play era, there are other things much more important for my discretionary dollars.
People on the margins may need a little more help than scholarship athletes, for example. Forced to pick, it’ll always be homelessness, home improvements and food insecurity over on-campus apartments, training table options and six-figure salaries for me.
Still, now that rules allow it, Penn State needs to open its coffers and make the biggest offer possible to get a quarterback in the transfer portal. Not a QB for the future, either.
It needs one for now — and one it seemed to have in its grasp but somehow let slip away.
It’s time to get Chad Powers on the roster.
Everyone remembers Chad Powers, the Eli Manning alter ego who participated in a walk-on tryout for the Penn State football team a couple of years ago. The debut of Powers happened as part of an episode of “Eli’s Places” that aired on ESPN+ in August 2022.
Powers became an internet and social media sensation.
He was especially popular in Happy Valley with “Think Fast, Run Fast” T-shirts popping up for sale, as well as shirts with “200” across the chest because that was the number Powers wore during his tryout.
Penn State’s athletic department even conducted a promotion challenging fans to run a 40-yard dash faster than Powers ran his (5.49 seconds). It was all good, fun stuff — a nice bit of attention for the football program.
Unfortunately, in a clear bit of misalignment between the football program, the athletic program and the administration, Powers has found a home this fall and it’s not Penn State — and that’s a shame.
Starting Sept. 30, fans will find Powers, this time brought to life by Glen Powell (“Twisters,” “Top Gun: Maverick”) in an eight-episode series that airs on Hulu. According to IMDB, “A disgraced college quarterback named Russ Holliday disguises himself as Chad Powers and walks onto a struggling southern football team to revive his football career.”
A team in the South? Really? In terms of recruiting battles, that’s a big miss for Franklin and Co.
It was certainly a bigger-than-football decision. There’s no doubt many voices about branding, licensing and marketing probably played a role and perhaps the football program itself did not want any distractions — even though any production would not infringe on the team’s operations. Most likely any of that work would happen far away from campus anyway.
Plus, the producers themselves probably had logistics concerns and personal preferences that influenced the decision.
How much fun would it be if that could change, though?
Maybe with the right offer Penn State can get Powers back in Happy Valley. And if it needs to spend to do so, go ahead and open the checkbook or offer up a menu of name, image and likeness deals to power the deal.
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