Penn State Football: 5 players who earned game balls vs. Northwestern

Is there anything Tommy Stevens can’t do?

Seriously, the team’s backup quarterback has scored touchdowns for the Nittany Lions as a receiver, as a running back, and as a quarterback so far this season, trailing only Saquon Barkley, who also has a kick return for a touchdown, in different touchdown methods so far this season.

And hey, if James Franklin decided to put Stevens deep to return a kickoff I’m sure he’d excel at that too.

After decommitting from Indiana during his senior year of high school, Stevens, a three-star recruit from Indianapolis, chose to take his talents to Happy Valley, and join James Franklin’s second Nittany Lions recruiting class.

And then he sat on the bench.

After Christian Hackenberg left Happy Valley for the greener pastures of the NFL, Stevens competed in a quarterback competition with Hackenberg’s backup Trace McSorley to see who would lead the Nittany Lions in 2016, with the latter obviously winning out.

But in 2017, offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead has found ways to get the 6-foot-4, 224-pound playmaker on the field with resounding success.

Debuting a unique two-quarterback set during the team’s season opener against Akron, Stevens has finally found a consistent place in the Nittany Lions’ offense, and has shown flashes of the dynamic player James Franklin recruited all the way back in 2014.

In about 40 offensive snaps so far this season, Stevens has scored four touchdowns, capped off by a receiving score against Northwestern in Week 6.

While I’m sure this isn’t the ideal situation Stevens envisioned when he originally committed to Penn State in 2014, it’s nice to see that he’s finally getting opportunities to shine when his number is called, and appears to be taking it in stride.