Penn State football and Pittsburgh had their Alumni Golf Rivalry Showdown and former Nittany Lions Saquon Barkley, Christian Hackenberg, and Mike Gesicki among others. While keeping the in-state rivalry upbeat and lively on the golf course, Barkley and Gesicki reflected on their time at Penn State.
The running back and tight end played for the Nittany Lions for three years together. Gesicki came to Penn State a year earlier than Barkley, who started his three-year career in 2015. During Barkley's sophomore year (also Gesicki's junior year), the Nittany Lions brought home the Big Ten title to Happy Valley. It was the first time in eight years that Penn State won the conference championship, defeating Wisconsin 38-31.
"We pushed things over the hump for sure," now-Philadelphia Eagle Barkley said in regards to Penn State winning the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game. "It's a beautiful thing . . . There's just so much tradition history at Penn State and obviously there was a point in time where [it] wasn't talked about the way it needed to be, but that's gone and that's a great thing."
Now that Nittany Lions are looking to reclaim that title almost a decade later. In 2024, Penn State suffered a heartbreaking loss in the championship game to Oregon. Head coach James Franklin's group of returners came back with the intention of taking home as many wins as possible, looking for redemption in conference playoffs and the College Football Playoffs.
Following the 2025-26 season, notable faces, like Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Zakee Wheatley, Nolan Rucci, Zane Durant, Dani Dennis-Sutton, and Riley Thompson among others, will be finished with their collegiate careers. It's possible that younger players forgo the rest of their college eligibility to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft in addition to the redshirt seniors and four-year players.
They're the face of the Penn State program for the time being until the season wraps up. Regardless of where they end up, though, their foundation always circles back to Beaver Stadium. At the golf showdown, now-Cinncinati Bengal Gesicki reflected on how his time as a Nittany Lion made him into the player he is today.
"A lot of people kind of look at now where I'm at in my career in the league and kind of forget that 10 years ago it was a grind," Gesicki said. ". . . I'm grateful for it all and [I] had some good memories in terms the highs and the lows and fighting through adversity."