Penn State Football: Top 10 Iconic Penn State plays Part I

# 6 1998 Illinois-Penn State

I would venture to say this might be the most famous Penn State play, outside of the Penn State community. It was a play that epitomized the phrase “Linebacker U” better than any other. While it didn’t result in the hardest of hits, it was the kind of play that made you stop in your tracks, hoping to see it again.

I remember the first time that I saw LaVar in person, at the 1998 Blue-White game. I was sitting in the stands, looking through binoculars, and eventually landed upon the kid everyone was talking about.

I remember telling my dad “He’s like a man among boys.” He was so physically gifted and just so much bigger, even as an 18-year-old compared to everyone else around him.

Penn State football was having a good, but not great season through the first six games of LaVar’s freshman campaign. They were 5-1 heading into the home matchup against Illinois.

In a game that would have been quickly forgotten otherwise (Penn State won 27-0), Lavar became Superman.

Penn State was winning 21-0 early in the 2nd half. Illinois had a fourth and inches on their 31-yard line when they decided to try and keep their drive alive. What followed next is the stuff of football legend.

This was not the only time that LaVar used himself as a human missile, but it was the most famous. There is another Penn State site called ForTheBloggy.com that does an in-depth review of the field goal that LaVar blocked, where he jumped so high he used his chest.