Jan. 4, 2016
By Tony Mancuso UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" Alongside its predecessors in 2012, 2013 and 2014, the 2015 football senior class will go down as a group of individuals who deserve a special place in Penn State's illustrious history.
It's fitting that the group is a smaller in numbers. Under the circumstances, the size of the class enabled the seniors to forge a tight-knit connection with one another through some of the program's most challenging days. The 2015 seniors have seemingly been through everything, but their commitment never once wavered, and the special bond they have with one another will never be broken.
In July of 2012, this group, arguably more than any other, had a distinct opportunity to leave the challenges following the NCAA sanctions announcement. The players in this group of seniors could have walked out the door and played several full seasons anywhere else in America.
Anyone in the class could have left without any repercussions to attend a school that could compete for a conference title, post-season berth or a national championship.
The group now also includes the likes of juniors Christian Hackenberg and Austin Johnson, who both announced they are headed for the NFL Draft following Saturday's TaxSlayer Bowl. Like the seniors, Hackenberg and Johnson could have also walked away from a commitment to the Blue and White without any penalty.
At the time, the vast majority of the student-athletes program faced open recruitment by schools across the country.
No student-athlete signed up for the hardships and scrutiny bestowed upon them starting in November 2011 and magnified the following July, so who could have blamed anyone had they elected to transfer.
Some of their teammates and fellow commits did just that.
But knowing the road would be a challenge unlike any other student-athletes had ever faced, this small collection of men refused to leave the family behind.
A brotherhood had been formed inside the locker room and in their residences, and this resilient group refused to step away.
The players knew they couldn't play in a bowl game. They knew they couldn't compete for a national championship. They knew the deck was almost insurmountably stacked against them. They knew it would be extremely difficult to compete on a level playing field.
They didn't care.
They didn't care about anything other than putting on the blue and white jersey each Saturday in the fall alongside their friends and in front of a family of Penn State supporters.
For this group of players, the sanctions, and the hardships brought by them, pulled the group closer together. The unique situation reaffirmed their passion for the place they had committed to.
The Penn State community embraced the players with open arms, and this group of players cannot say thank you enough for the support they have received.
It's hard to envision where Penn State Football would be without the loyalty of this senior class or guys like Hackenberg and Johnson.
For the past three, and in some cases four years, this group's actions have spoken louder than any words. These student-athletes played for one another. They played for their families. They played for the players who wore the blue and white before them. They played for Penn State.
"I came here to get a college degree from one of the best schools in America," said defensive tackle Anthony Zettel. "I'm going to accomplish that. And I've always just wanted to give everything I had for this football program, not just on the football field but in the community. This opportunity is something no one will ever take away from us. It's something I will never forget. And I am forever grateful."
Where do you even begin to start when you think about what it must have been like to walk in the shoes of guys like Kyle Carter, Angelo Mangiro, Carl Nassib or Anthony Zettel. Despite the odds of competing in major college football with a roster of limited scholarships, the group's mindset never changed.
"It would have been easy to let things get to you, but that's not who we are. We had a job to do, and we did it because we love being a part of this family," Zettel said.
This group's college experience has been unique to say the least, which is why the group deserves the utmost respect from any supporter of the program or intercollegiate athletics. They worked hard for one another in the toughest of circumstances because that is the only thing they knew how to do.
"Back in 2012, when we ran out of that tunnel for the first time with our names on the back of our jerseys, we were showing the world that we could have jumped ship, but we didn't," said offensive lineman Angelo Mangiro. "We stayed. We wanted to be here. And we did it because we love Penn State."
It was clear three years ago that the current seniors weren't playing for accolades or a bowl game. The quest for success was far bigger than wins and losses on the field. The group saw the situation not as a deterrent, but as an opportunity to grow together.
"We've been battle tested since day one," said Mangiro. "It's always been a tight-knit group because we've been through so much adversity together. Coming down the stretch, you just think about how this opportunity shaped us as men. We will cherish every moment we have together."
That doesn't mean the 2015 seniors weren't more deserving of a chance at a post-season game, though. When the NCAA lifted the ban on post-season play on Sept. 8, 2014, head coach James Franklin called every member of the team who was on the roster in July of 2012 to the front of the meeting room to stand before the rest of the team.
Franklin and the underclassmen gave the collection of players standing in the front of the room a rousing, standing ovation and pleaded with the young players in the room to play the rest of the 2014 season for the men who had been through never ending adversity, especially the seniors.
Following a thrilling overtime game at the Pinstripe Bowl, these Nittany Lions will go down in history as key figures in the program's first bowl victory following the sanctions.
"It's not a big group, in terms of numbers, but it is a big group in terms of impact," said Franklin. "This is a group of guys who have had a tremendous influence on our team and the community. They've been through a lot. They've stuck together. They stuck by Penn State. And we owe them a lot of gratitude."
Penn State's 2015 season again extended beyond the 12th regular season game. The extra practices and buildup to the TaxSlayer Bowl will ultimately pay huge dividends for the future of the program. But more importantly, the 2015 seniors, Hackenberg and Johnson all had an opportunity to spend an extra month together with the football family.
Including interim coaches, the seniors played for five different head coaches in their time with the program. But their commitment and drive to be the best never wavered.
For Hackenberg, he had his pick of schools out of high school. He chose Penn State because he wanted to be in Happy Valley. He didn't care about the sanctions. When he committed to the program and University, Hackenberg did so with the passion and enthusiasm that helped become glue to keep Penn State Football relevant in its toughest hours.
"I don't know if you can count on one hand how many other programs would have been able to survive what we survived," Hackenberg said. "Just to be a part of that is really humbling. I'm proud to be a part of that group of guys."
When this group arrived at Penn State, not one of them could have predicted what type of journey they were about to embark on. The hurdles faced made the group stronger men. The senior class never lost sight of the bigger picture because it battled for so much more than individual accolades. And the group would do all of it again for the University and football program they so dearly love.
"You just get chills every time you put the helmet on," defensive end Carl Nassib said. "We are all just so lucky to have been able to do that for Penn State. This has meant the world to every one of us."
The Nittany Lions came up just short of sending this group out with a victory the TaxSlayer Bowl on Saturday. To a man, it was emotional for each guy as he walked off the field in Jacksonville for the final time. But no one win or loss will define the legacies of these men.
Instrumental in helping lay the foundation for future success, the group's place in Penn State history will be identified with an incredible bond to a University when it needed it most.