The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF), Central Pennsylvania Chapter, has selected former Penn State, Big Ten Championship Game MVP and NFL free-agent quarterback Trace McSorley as guest speaker for its 27thscholar-athlete awards dinner. The dinner will be held on Sunday, March 17 at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.
The NFF holds players in high esteem who can achieve success on the field, in the classroom, and as members of the community making McSorley an outstanding choice to serve as this year's guest speaker. During his senior season at Penn State in 2018 McSorley became the 18th Nittany Lion to be selected as anNFF Scholar-Athlete. He was also a Google Cloud/COSIDA Academic All-Districts election and Academic All-Big Ten. McSorley graduated in 2018 with a degree in accounting and is pursuing a second degree in journalism.
As the Nittany Lions starting quarterback from 2016-19, McSorley posted a31-9 record to help lead the program back to national prominence. In his first seasonas a starter in 2016 Penn State finished 11-3 winning the Big Ten Championship with McSorley being named the game’s MVP and earning the Nittany Lions a trip to the Rose Bowl. He finished 2016 by throwing for 3,614 yards with 29 TD and added another seven on the ground en route to All-Big Ten Second Team Honors.McSorley and Penn State were even better in 2017, going 11-2 with a 35-28 victory over Washington in the Fiesta Bowl. McSorley was named the game's MVP with 342 yards passing and two TD. Earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors again in2017, McSorley threw for 3,570 yards, 28 TD and had a 162.4 rating. With McSorley at the helm for his final season in 2018 Penn State posted a 9-4 mark, earning a berth in the Citrus Bowl.
In 2019 McSorley was a 6th round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL draft. Following two and a half seasons with the Ravens, McSorley has played for the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers.
"The Central Pa Chapter of the National Football Foundation is honored to have Trace McSorley as the guest speaker for our annual scholar-athlete awards dinner,” said chapter President Sam Phillips. “College football fans remember his thrilling accomplishments as an award-winning Penn State quarterback and we look forward to hearing his words of wisdom and encouragement."
