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<p>Before he scored his own touchdown on Saturday night, Brandon Polk kept finding a way to the end zone anyway.</p><p>During Penn State&#8217;s scoring bonanza against Georgia State, the short but speedy wideout was throwing blocks to spring others for scores.</p><p>And though no Georgia State defender could catch up with Saquon Barkley on his 85-yard sprint for a touchdown, Polk was right there running near him as he crossed the goal line.</p><p>&#8220;Very pleased with his overall development right now &#8212; how he&#8217;s playing, his enthusiasm,&#8221; Penn State coach James Franklin said. &#8220;His enthusiasm for his teammates, the effort he&#8217;s playing with. If you watched that play with Saquon Barkley, we all know how fast Saquon is. Watch Brandon Polk &#8212; he&#8217;s on the opposite side of the field, he sprints down, catches Saquon and gets in front of a defender, and then goes into the end zone and celebrates, and he&#8217;s as happy or more happy than Saquon is. I&#8217;m very pleased with him.&#8221;</p><p>And the two kept on running and kept on celebrating all the way back across the field to the Penn State sideline.</p><p>&#8220;I tell all the running backs, I say, &#8216;If you get in open field, I&#8217;m coming to get you. I&#8217;m going to block for you,&#8217; &#8221; Polk said. &#8220;I told (Barkley) before the game &#8212; it&#8217;s kind of funny. I was like, &#8216;I feel like this game, you&#8217;re going to either catch or have some big run and I&#8217;m going to come get you,&#8217; and that&#8217;s why he kind of pointed at me.</p><p>&#8220;We were pointing at each other. It&#8217;s kind of like, &#8216;I told you.&#8217; So, kind of fun.&#8221;</p><p>Polk has made sure to have some fun on the field this season after missing nearly all of 2016 with an injury that led to a medical redshirt.</p><p>The Nittany Lions&#8217; No. 2 slot receiver behind DaeSean Hamilton, Polk had actually carved out a significant role in 2015 as a true freshman, when a more conventional offense needed his speed on sweeps and screens to open things up.</p><p>His very first collegiate play was Penn State&#8217;s first snap of the 2015 season, taking a handoff 33 yards to the surprise of a tough Temple defense. Later that year, he added a touchdown run against Buffalo and a touchdown catch against Indiana.</p><p>But an undisclosed injury kept him out of the final 11 games during last season&#8217;s run to the Rose Bowl. With a chance to apply for a medical redshirt, he was kept off the field rather than try to return late in the campaign.</p><p>The NCAA granted the request, allowing Polk to keep three years of eligibility, starting with this season. And the time away from the game altered his outlook on it.</p><p>&#8220;Just being back, since being out last year, it&#8217;s kind of fun. I&#8217;m enjoying like every second of it,&#8221; Polk said. &#8220;Because it was taken away from me due to injury. So I really missed it. So every time I&#8217;m out there, I&#8217;m playing like it&#8217;s literally my last play.&#8221;</p><p>He even hit paydirt in the third quarter against Georgia State, working his way open in the end zone to catch a 15-yard touchdown from his former Briar Woods High School teammate, Trace McSorley.</p><p>McSorley, who was a year ahead of Polk, won multiple Virginia state championships with him. But whereas Polk was able to simply blow past the competition at that level, he has needed to develop a more complete skillset in college.</p><p>&#8220;One thing I saw change (since then) is his route running,&#8221; McSorley said. &#8220;Before, he was just the fastest guy. Now he&#8217;s setting guys up to get open &#8212; the little details in the routes.&#8221;</p><p>More than that, Polk has also developed the physical part to his game.</p><p>Listed at 5-foot-9, Polk wasn&#8217;t known for his blocking ability but was able to show how far he&#8217;s come last week with some noticeable work against defenders.</p><p>But it took some time to change his mentality in that regard</p><p>&#8220;For me, I would say yes,&#8221; Polk said. &#8220;For me, I&#8217;m not the biggest guy. So it was like, &#8216;Oh, how can I block him &#8212; he&#8217;s 6-5, he&#8217;s this. No, you have to have the want to do it.</p><p>&#8220;So it doesn&#8217;t matter how small you are. If you want to do something, you can do it.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State wideout Brandon Polk (10) was the only one on the field fast enough to keep up with Saquon Barkley on his 85-yard touchdown on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_AP17260134802330201792122022154.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State wideout Brandon Polk (10) was the only one on the field fast enough to keep up with Saquon Barkley on his 85-yard touchdown on Saturday night. </caption0><photoCredit0>Abby Drey | AP photo, Centre Daily Times </photoCredit0></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>No. 4 Penn State at Iowa</p><p>7:30 p.m., Saturday, ABC</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse </p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State wideout Brandon Polk relishing his time back on the field