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Andrew McCabe promoted to loan officer at Benchmark, McCabe Mortgage Group

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Wilkes-Barre City Council member Tony Brooks testifies in Harrisburg on LGBT legislation

<p>Practice had ended for everyone except Mike Gesicki.</p><p>At first he had some help &#8212; a teammate to hang around and throw him 50 passes. Ten on the money. Ten to the left. Ten to the right. Ten high. Ten low.</p><p>After that? It&#8217;s just him and a blocking sled.</p><p>Long after the rest of the squad and the coaching staff went back inside after a spring practice, Gesicki remained on the field outside of Penn State&#8217;s Lasch Building headquarters. The junior worked on all of the major blocks a tight end must master, switching stances and switching sides as he went.</p><p>It&#8217;s an effort that has carried through the offseason. One he believes will pay off as the 2016 opens Saturday against Kent State.</p><p>&#8220;Mike&#8217;s been very business-like, he really has,&#8221; Penn State coach James Franklin said this week. &#8220;You talk about a guy, again, who has matured dramatically in his three years here, and he&#8217;s seen it all. A highly-recruited guy coming in here, has not had the type of success that he wanted, got some scrutiny and has really matured and learned from all those things.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s had a very business-like approach this offseason, and that&#8217;s been great. Really, really proud of him.&#8221;</p><p>A star in everything he tried in high school &#8212; football, basketball and volleyball &#8212; Gesicki struggled athletically for the first time he could recall in 2015.</p><p>It just happened to come in his first year as a starting tight end in the Big Ten. His 13 catches for 125 yards and one score were overshadowed by a handful of dropped passes.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve never in my life gone through something like that,&#8221; Gesicki said during the offseason. &#8220;I&#8217;m not saying I&#8217;m happy I went through it. But everybody goes through something like that. Over the course of a season or just one game. That was my learning curve last year. I wish obviously that it happened maybe in high school or on a smaller stage. But it happened.&#8221;</p><p>The root of the issue, Franklin believed, wasn&#8217;t about the drops. Or anything to do with his work as a receiver.</p><p>&#8220;The team all knows he has a lot of ability in the passing game,&#8221; Franklin said during the spring. &#8220;But I think the lack of success he had as a blocker last year, that spilled into other areas of his game. And I think him embracing being a complete tight end, you&#8217;re going to see he has the ability to make big plays in the passing game. Which I think everybody&#8217;s been kind of waiting for since he arrived.</p><p>&#8220;Looking back at it, you would&#8217;ve liked to redshirt him, knowing everything we know now. You&#8217;re talking about a guy who you&#8217;re going to ask to play tight end, and he had never blocked anybody in his life.&#8221;</p><p>Gesicki&#8217;s reps as a freshman weren&#8217;t radically different from what he did in high school, splitting out wide and serving as another big target for quarterback Christian Hackenberg.</p><p>Sophomore year brought a bigger spotlight and more noticeable hardships. The Lions offense was immediately under siege when Hackenberg was sacked 10 times in a season-&#173;opening loss at Temple. The scheme was quickly altered to emphasize the running game.</p><p>Suddenly, fellow tight end Brent Wilkerson saw his snaps increase dramatically because of his ability as a blocker. The team&#8217;s passing attempts went down in September and into October and every misfire became magnified. Gesicki was no exception.</p><p>Not helping matters was a shoulder injury he suffered in November against Michigan. It kept him out of the regular season finale at Michigan State and was still affecting him in the TaxSlayer Bowl against Georgia.</p><p>For Gesicki, there was a snowball effect.</p><p>&#8220;I would say I was never really tense or nervous,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t get nervous before games. Last year was more of it being in my head. I never thought about catching a ball before in my life. When I started to think about it, that&#8217;s when it started to hurt me.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s certainly not something he enjoys talking about. But he was asked about it over and over again during the spring and summer, and he answered earnestly each time.</p><p>&#8220;I put last season in the past,&#8221; Gesicki said this week. &#8220;I feel like a lot of other people haven&#8217;t. But that&#8217;s not important to me.&#8221;</p><p>With Joe Moorhead taking over as offensive coordinator, Gesicki figures to see his role increase in a scheme that utilizes the tight end often.</p><p>On top of that, the Lions are without two tight ends from last season. Wilkerson was dismissed from the team in April following an indecent assault charge. Redshirt freshman Nick Bowers will miss the entire season with an undisclosed injury.</p><p>That leaves walk-on Tom Pancoast, redshirt freshman Jonathan Holland and true freshman Danny Dalton as the other tight ends on the roster. Gesicki is the only one who has taken a collegiate snap, save for a very brief cameo by Pancoast last fall.</p><p>&#8220;He has something to prove,&#8221; new tight ends coach Ricky Rahne said. &#8220;When I say that, that&#8217;s to himself. He has something to prove to himself. And that&#8217;s when a guy has the chance to be really good &#8212; when he&#8217;s not worried about external forces. He&#8217;s worried about maximizing his own potential, not people&#8217;s perception of his potential.&#8221;</p><p>That mindset was underscored in the offseason as Gesicki swore off Twitter and reading what people had to say about him. From the moment the team plane landed back in State College after the bowl game, he had resolved to change his approach.</p><p>People around the program have taken notice. When asked about Gesicki&#8217;s spring, Franklin&#8217;s immediate response is to say the New Jersey native has matured.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d say I&#8217;m a completely different guy,&#8221; Gesicki said. &#8220;A completely different player.&#8221;</p><p>And the new season helps provide a clean slate.</p><p>Not entirely clean, though. That would defeat the point. For while Gesicki talks frequently about his future, it&#8217;s that recent past that still motivates him.</p><p>&#8220;I never want to experience anything like that again,&#8221; Gesicki said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t read or listen to what people have to say. I&#8217;m sure there&#8217;s still a negative opinion out there of Mike Gesicki and his ability and talent as a tight end in college football. But you let it be.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m excited for the future, all in all, to prove those people wrong and prove myself right.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki called himself &#8220;a completely different guy, a completely different player&#8221; this week on the eve of the 2016 season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_gesicki-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki called himself &#8220;a completely different guy, a completely different player&#8221; this week on the eve of the 2016 season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Gene J. Puskar | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_gesicki-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mike Gesicki (88) finished 2015 with 13 catches for 125 and one touchdown &#8212; numbers he&#8217;s looking to improve. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_gesicki-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Mike Gesicki (88) finished 2015 with 13 catches for 125 and one touchdown &#8212; numbers he&#8217;s looking to improve. </caption1><photoCredit1>Chris Dunn | AP file photo, York Daily Record </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_mike-gesicki.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Entering his second season as Penn State&#8217;s starting tight end, Mike Gesicki is eager to make a name for himself in the Nittany Lions&#8217; new offense. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_mike-gesicki.jpg</photo2><caption2>Entering his second season as Penn State&#8217;s starting tight end, Mike Gesicki is eager to make a name for himself in the Nittany Lions&#8217; new offense. </caption2><photoCredit2>Chris Dunn | AP file photo, York Daily Record </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Kent State at Penn State</p><p>3:30 p.m. Saturday, BTN</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State’s Mike Gesicki eager to bounce back