Penn State Football: Top-25 players of the James Franklin Era
By Brad Weiss
Penn State Football: Top-25 players of the James Franklin Era
. Tight End. Nittany Lions . Mike Gesicki. 6. player. 806
Mike Gesicki played sparingly during the 2014 and 2015 college football seasons, James Franklin‘s first at the helm of Penn State football. He did have 125 yards and a touchdown in 2015, but it was his work in 2016 and 2017 that made him one of the better tight ends in the history of this program.
After racking up 679 yards and five touchdowns as a junior, Gesicki would go on to set the single-season touchdown reception record for tight ends during the 2017 campaign. He finished that year with 563 yards and nine touchdowns, earning second-team All-Big Ten honors. Throughout his career, Gesicki proved to be one of the more reliable options in the passing game, having at least one reception in 27 straight games.
He currently holds the record for most receptions by a tight end in school history with 87 and would go on to be a second-round pick of the Miami Dolphins. There have been plenty of great tight ends to put on a Penn State uniform, and Gesicki certainly is right up there with any of them, but in this James Franklin Era, he was the most dominant and consistent.