Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

STATE COLLEGE — He had just hauled in a 59-yard touchdown catch at Beaver Stadium. And Dan Chisena’s day was about to get much better.

Before the walk-on wideout even reached the sideline following the biggest play of Saturday’s Blue-White Game, his head coach had grabbed a microphone.

“With that touchdown catch,” James Franklin boomed over the loudspeakers, “Chisena — you’re on full scholarship.”

He barely had a moment to process the news before running back Journey Brown gave him a hug from behind. The quarterback who had hit him in stride for the score, Will Levis, went flying over top of him. And before long, both sidelines poured out onto the field to surround him and celebrate.

“Surreal,” Chisena said after his Blue squad beat the White 24-7. “Don’t even know how to put it into words because it doesn’t feel real. It’s just a testament to God’s perfect timing, and I’m very blessed to be in that position right now.

“I had no idea (it was coming), and it was very special.”

But because of his speed, not entirely unexpected. After all, this was actually the second athletic scholarship Chisena had received from Penn State.

After initially walking on to the football team, Chisena left to compete for the Lions’ track team from spring 2016 through 2018, earning a partial scholarship in the process.

While there, he helped the squad win a Big Ten title, contributing a third-place finish in the 400.

Football, though, was still on his mind. Chisena played both sports at Downingtown East High School, highlighted by a state title win in the 100. But he decided to switch back for his fifth and final year, even though it meant giving up his track scholarship.

“Since I left I just really missed football,” Chisena said. “It had nothing to do with track because I really loved my time over there. There was just a pull to go back and give football another try.

“I’m very appreciative that Coach Franklin let me come back and join the team and it has been an incredible experience and I’m very thankful.”

It didn’t hurt his chances that the Lions were thinner than usual at receiver following transfers of would-be seniors Juwan Johnson and Brandon Polk. Add in the absence of Mac Hippenhammer, who is playing baseball full-time this spring before returning to football in the summer, and Chisena had opportunities to shine.

“He’s 210 pounds and one of the fastest guys on the team legitimately before he left,” Franklin said. “He ran in the (range of 4.3 seconds in the 40). He’s catching the ball confidently. He’s a guy that we’ve always had high hopes for, and he’s just had a really good, consistent spring. He’s mature, smart, strong.

“Obviously, he’s got a lot of work do to from a fundamental standpoint, but we like where he’s at.”

That’s the case for the receiver group at large. KJ Hamler, Jahan Dotson and Justin Shorter opened Saturday’s scrimmage with the first-team offense and enter the summer as the favorites to start.

To try and improve depth at the position, Penn State is also set to add a pair of grad transfers in former Florida State five-star recruit George Campbell and Div. II standout Weston Carr, brother of former Northwestern star Austin Carr, the 2016 Big Ten receiver of the year.

A pair of true freshmen, John Dunmore and TJ Jones, will also join the team in the coming months, giving Penn State a projected 11 scholarship players at the position for 2019.

Earlier in the spring, the Lions also awarded a scholarship to another walk-on wideout in Isaac Lutz, who contributes mostly on special teams. Chisena now makes a projected 12 scholarship receivers for 2019.

“He’s a worker. He’s a worker,” senior linebacker Cam Brown said. “That kid’s probably the fastest person on the team. … He’s a track kid — when he runs past you, he runs past you.”

The other three touchdowns in the game were scored by running backs. Ricky Slade, who just finished his true freshman year, plunged in from the 1-yard line in the first quarter while January enrollee Noah Cain found the end zone twice. He scored for both sides — a 2-yard run for White in the second quarter and an 8-yard catch for Blue in the fourth.

As expected, several prominent players didn’t take a snap on Saturday, most of whom are recovering from injuries.

Quarterback Tommy Stevens had offseason foot surgery and was limited all spring. Others who didn’t see the field included cornerback Donovan Johnson, defensive tackle Ellison Jordan, offensive lineman Mike Miranda and defensive end Shane Simmons.

Defensive tackle Fred Hansard saw his first public action since suffering a season-ending injury last October.

But most of the focus was on Stevens, the fifth-year senior who will battle sophomore Sean Clifford for the job in the summer.

“We want to be able to name the starter as soon as we possibly can, but we’re not ready to do that right now,” Franklin said. “Tommy has done everything right for four years. There’s been a huge body of work that we’ve seen from him. And I think last year in a lot of ways wasn’t fair for him because he was playing with a pretty significant injury.

“Our coaching staff has all the belief in the world in Tommy … but we also have belief in the other guys, and we’ve created real good competition in our quarterback room. We’ll see how this plays out. We might name (a starter) as soon as we can, but based on how things have played out, I don’t know when that will happen.”

2019 Blue-White Game

Blue 24, White 7

White`0`7`0`0 — 7

Blue`7`3`7`7` — 24

First Quarter

BLUE — Ricky Slade 1 run (Jake Pinegar kick), 1:41

Second Quarter

WHITE — Noah Cain 2 run (Rafael Checa kick), 5:13

BLUE — Pinegar 35 field goal, 0:00

Third Quarter

BLUE — Dan Chisena 59 pass from Will Levis (Pinegar kick), 0:26

Fourth Quarter

BLUE — Noah Cain 8 pass from Sean Clifford (Pinegar kick), 1:26

Team statistics`White`Blue

First downs`9`10

Rushes-yards`28-38`18-56

Passing yards`54`204

Total yards`92`260

Passing`8-14-0`15-26-0

Sacked-yards lost`6-35`1-2

Punts-avg.`6-36.5`4-42.8

Fumbles-lost`0-0`0-0

Penalties-yards`2-10`4-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING — WHITE, Noah Cain 8-41, Isaac Rumery 3-9, C.J. Holmes 2-7, Nick Eury 4-2, Ta’Quan Roberson 7-(minus-1), Team 1-(minus-9), Michael Johnson Jr. 3-(minus-11). BLUE, Sean Clifford 6-31, Journey Brown 3-10, Ricky Slade 4-10, Noah Cain 4-4, Michael Shuster 1-1.

PASSING — WHITE, Johnson 4-4-0-36, Roberson 3-9-0-19, Rumery 1-1-0-(minus-1). BLUE, Clifford 11-19-0-118, Levis 4-7-0-86.

RECEIVING — WHITE, Brenton Strange 3-19, Henry Fessler 2-22, Alec Berger 1-9, Cain, 1-5, Eury 1-(minus-1). BLUE, Slade 3-20, Daniel George 3-14, Dan Chisena 2-75, Nick Bowers 2-54, Cam Sullivan-Brown 1-12, Isaac Lutz 1-9, Cain 1-8, Justin Shorter 1-6, Zack Kuntz 1-6.

T — 1:54. A — 61,000 (est.)

Chisena
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Chisena_Dan_H_18_MS_3210.jpg.optimal.jpgChisena

By Derek Levarse

[email protected]