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Stevens blames self for how his role has played out

UNIVERSITY PARK — Tommy Stevens has been a non-factor for the Penn State offense this season, but the versatile backup quarterback blames no one but himself for that.

The redshirt junior also doesn’t second guess his decision to stay at Penn State rather than transfer for an opportunity to start somewhere else this season.

“Absolutely not,” Stevens said Tuesday, the first time he’s spoken to the media this season. “Once I made that decision that I wanted to stay here, that page was closed, the book was closed, I guess.

“I’m happy with my decision to stay here. It was the right decision to stay here. It was the best thing for me to do.”

In an effort to appease Stevens and try to take advantage of his intriguing skill set, the Penn State coaches came up with a new position for him called the “lion.” No one outside the program really knows exactly what the lion is supposed to do, simply because it’s been used so seldom this year.

Stevens had a foot injury during the spring and missed time in preseason camp. He also said he wasn’t fully healthy until the Illinois game in week four.

The following week against Ohio State, he was on the field for a few plays, and they turned out poorly. He carried three times for minus-12 yards and fumbled once.

Stevens didn’t play at all in this past week’s loss to Michigan State, even though starting quarterback Trace McSorley and the overall offense were struggling.

While everyone is wondering why Stevens rarely gets used, he apparently does not. He said the coaches come up with an offensive game plan each week, so he knows before each game if his “lion” package will be involved.

“I did know I probably wasn’t going to be utilized against Michigan State, but I was told to stay ready,” he said.

Is he disappointed he hasn’t played more?

“I wouldn’t say disappointed,” Stevens said, “because every week there’s a different plan. … I knew what I was getting into.

“I believe and trust the coaches; they’re always going to have a plan,” he added. “I’m always going to abide by that plan.”

Stevens isn’t blaming the coaches for not using him more. He said it all comes down to him executing better.

“Given the opportunity to make plays, I need to execute in my role,” he said. “There’s been plenty of opportunities for me. I need to execute.”

The fumble against Ohio State was a good example.

“If that play had executed, people wouldn’t be talking about the (lion) package struggling,” Stevens said. “It really just comes down to me. I’ve got to execute. Moving forward I’ve got to pay attention to little things.”

Stevens is from Indianapolis, so this week’s game at Indiana will be a homecoming for him. When Penn State visited Indiana two years ago, he was able to come up with about 125 tickets for the game for friends and family members. Each player gets four tickets per game, so Stevens rounded up a bunch from teammates.

He won’t have to get as many this time around, probably about 60.

Stevens is expected to be the starting quarterback next season after McSorley graduates, but that may not be set in stone. Sean Clifford has handled backup duties much of this season when Stevens was hurt and has shown good passing skills.

Stevens, a strong runner, has never had many chances to throw in a game. He’s 16-of-30 for 194 yards with three TDs in his career.

For his part, Stevens said he has progressed a great deal as an all-around quarterback, and he still runs a lot of reps there in practice, not just as the lion.

“I think I’ve developed more as a passer would be the biggest thing for me,” he said, noting he ran the wing-T in high school.

“My overall knowledge of the game has gotten better. I felt like I knew football in high school. I didn’t.”

Emotional times

James Franklin spent a lot of time during his press conference Tuesday talking about how the team will handle losing back-to-back games and all the emotions that come with that.

“Whenever you lose a game, there is an emotional investment that you have made as an organization, as a program, for the season, for week, and for many he to sit here and say those things don’t have an effect, yeah, they do,” the coach said.

“But you have to find a way to push through them, as a player, coaches, a whole organization, everybody has setbacks, and that is football and that is life. And you can’t allow, whether it’s one play to affect the next, or one game to affect the next.”

Hansard done

for year

Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Fred Hansard will miss the rest of the season after suffering a left leg injury against Michigan State. He will require surgery, Franklin said.

The Lions already were thin at the D-tackle spot, and losing Hansard will mean more snaps for others, including redshirt freshman Damion Barber and true freshman PJ Mustipher.

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