Penn State Football: 5 overreactions from win over Pitt
5. Mike Gesicki is under-utilized
Penn State has never been able to correctly utilize tight end Mike Gesicki to his fullest potential.
Thus far in his Penn State playing career, the 6-foot-6 former three-star recruit from Manahawkin, N.J., has caught 82 passes for 1,015 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Gesicki’s unique blend of size and speed makes him one of the most dangerous players on the entire roster, and one few opposing teams are capable of containing.
In Penn State’s Week 2 game against Pitt, Gesicki accounted for 39 yards and two touchdowns on four catches and served as one of the Nittany Lions’ main red-zone targets.
Without star safety Jordan Whitehead, who at 5-foot-11 would have struggled to defend Gesicki anyway, the team was forced to match him up against the Panthers’ linebackers corp.
Which did not end well.
For a team that likes to throw the ball deep as often as Penn State does, having a big tight end across the middle of the field should serve as a reliable safety blanket for the Nittany Lions’ quarterbacks, but that hasn’t been the case for much of his career.
One of the best parts of Gesicki’s game is his incredibly large catch radius. This skill can turn less than perfect passes into easy receptions and help to bail out Trace McSorley.
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Well not a particularly skilled pass-blocker, Gesicki has a skill-set similar to former Stanford Cardinal, and current Philadelphia Eagle, Zach Ertz, and has the potential to be used as a primary target of the Nittany Lions offense, if they gave him the opportunity.
While at Fordam, offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead’s top receiving threat was always a tight end, and in Gesicki may have the best tight end prospect of his career.
As Penn State enters conference play in the coming weeks and begins to face off against the stingy defenses of the Big Ten, utilizing such a unique offensive weapon could be the key to Penn State scoring points more consistently. Let’s hope the team takes advantage of it.