What a difference a year makes for No. 5 Lions

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- What started as a fun gesture made after catching balls off the JUGS machine 13 months ago quickly transformed into Mike Gesicki's now signature touchdown celebration.

With a few up and down motions of his arm the Penn State tight end looks like he's calling all passengers aboard a train and that's the goal. With touchdowns in the past five games and already four touchdowns this season, the senior tight end has long moved on from his sophomore slump, but for all the social media apps he's deleted in the past two years when fans made him the butt of the joke for his drops, he also hasn't forgotten it.

The celebration is for them.

"The story behind it is a lot of people were writing myself off going into that [junior] year, they were writing Penn State off," Gesicki said on Wednesday. "So everyone was hopping off the Penn State train, they were hopping off the Mike Gesicki train. And now when I do that, I'm telling everybody that the train has left. It's gone and it's too late to hop on now. If you weren't on it when Penn State wasn't what we are now or I wasn't what I am now, then it's too late. So when I'm doing that, I'm talking to people that hopped off the train."



Every once in a while another teammate will get in on the celebration as well, even Heisman Trophy candidate Saquon Barkley has pumped his arm a few times. While Gesicki certainly isn't the same player he was a couple seasons ago, this entire Penn State team, ranked No. 5 in the country, is drastically different than the one that sat at 1-1 just one year ago. While Gesicki's numbers and that of the entire offense skyrocketed in the past year-plus, so too have many of the intangibles and team dynamics that often get over looked. These Lions are all aboard the train that left the station one year ago.

Improved depth, bolstered speed and a better understanding of the offensive, defensive and special teams philosophies are certainly important, but so too are chemistry, confidence, camaraderie and trust, all phrases players and the coaching staff have thrown out there within the past couple months. Obviously there's no metric to prove the difference in intangibles, but it all factors in, especially for a team that saw what it took last season to get as far as it did.

"A couple things stand out," senior cornerback Grant Haley said of this the differences between this year and last. "The maturity and approach we have every single day not only at practice, but in lifting and meetings. Even on our off days, Trace [McSorley] will get the offense together, Jason [Cabinda] gets the linebackers and d-line together and Marcus [Allen] and I get the secondary together. We can see the difference when we go out on the field. The game has slowed down for us. Just because of the preparation we put into it.

"We just feel comfortable and are confident coming off last year," he continued. "It was a huge energy boost for us and I think we brought it into this season. These first couple games have been great, but now we've got to learn from what we can do better and keep taking it game by game and going 1-0 this week."

While every little detail of the players' preparation is monitored -- all the way down to the last wink of sleep -- within the past year a lot has changed inside the locker room as well. Team dynamics are altered from year to year regardless of the level and there's something to be said for the bond that's built over time. These guys genuinely like each other and spend any amount of time interacting with or observing them and it's evident.

Juwan Johnson gets mocked by teammates when reporters file in to shove their microphones in his face. Yes, they too heard the wide receiver is in line for a big year and joke with him because of it. Allen, the charismatic senior safety, sends out celebratory videos of the Lions dancing in the locker room after a win, with everyone from reserve linebackers to the starters getting in on the fun. Barkley's roommate is Haley, the cornerback, and for a rare break during the summer the running back was hanging out with his friends, the team's holder, back-up quarterback, safety Troy Apke and reserve back Mark Allen.

Even punter Blake Gillikin said the Lions' improved special teams play thus far in part has to do with them being comfortable with one another and simply having fun. DeAndre Thompkins credited improved trust for his 62-yard punt return that jumpstarted the season against Akron. That, he said, wasn't present when he was back deep years prior. He's bought in and so too have those trying to create room for him.

"We all believe in him and that's the biggest thing," safety and special teams ace Nick Scott said. "If you believe your returner can take it to the house every time you're going to be successful because guys are going to try that much harder to free him."

The changes, whether in maturity, belief or otherwise have tricked over to other position groups where younger players hopped aboard too. Starting guard Steven Gonzalez, whom position coach Matt Limegrover said last year was a "lone wolf" who kind of distanced himself from teammates, now is a chatty and confident contributor. While the spot starts earned down the stretch last season boosted Gonzalez's confidence, he's no longer the same quiet guy who was going through the motions a year ago.

"We’re very close-knit, now more than ever," Gonzalez said this week. "That’s definitely helped the chemistry of our offensive line. ... It’s definitely helped out, [with] me building chemistry with the offensive linemen but also my teammates. I’ve just been going about things with a more positive light, and I’ve just been looking at life in a different aspect, and honestly it’s paid so much dividends for me recently. I’m just hoping to continue this, I guess you could say, nice streak."

Another change is evident in the leadership coming from defensive end Torrence Brown, the laid-back lineman whom teammates all circle around at the end of warmups on game days, swaying back and forth while the redshirt junior stands in the middle. The extra attention certainly is not Brown's style, but he said he's embraced it because he is the veteran d-end in the room.

"It’s not really my personality. I’m more of a quiet guy," Brown said. "If it’s something that the team needs me to do then I’m all for it. I’m more like the guy that the d-line kind of looks to to get us going and kind of be that leader then I’m fine with taking 100 percent of the responsibilities for that."

QUICK HITS

• Punter Blake Gillikin spoke with the media on Wednesday as well and while the special team's ace continues being a difference maker, long after his football career concludes he said he'd like to become an orthopedic surgeon. Gillikin is in Penn State's Schreyer Honors College where he's studying kinesiology. His desire to be a perfectionist in the classroom extends to his punting responsibilities.

"You can ask a lot of people, I'm a perfectionist in a lot of facets of life," the sophomore said. "And punting is so difficult and so detail-oriented that it kind of attracted me."

Gillikin's twin brother, who studies biology at Northwestern, is also the Wildcats' long snapper. The two will play against each other for the first time in any organized sporting event next month when the Lions head to Evanston. Until then, Gillikin's parents split duties watching their specialist sons. The boys' grandma and grandpa are in on the fun too and purchased an RV so they can travel the country to watch their grandsons.

"They were at Pitt last week and they stayed for Georgia State," Gillikin said. "They'll be traveling around in that RV."

"My parents usually, if it's a big game, they'll both go to that game," he continued. "Or, they'll try to split it up to make sure that someone has either a parent or grandparent at a game."

• How was Penn State's start to the practice week?

"[Tuesday] we started off great, from an energy standpoint, from an execution standpoint, all the phases to have a successful practice," Gesicki said. "It was a great start to our week."

• James Franklin will address the media after practice Wednesday night. I'll have a full report off of that as well as photos and videos, as usual.