WR Brandon Polk ‘enjoying every second’ of healthy, resurgent 2017 start

On Saquon Barkley’s 85-yard catch-and-run score against Georgia State, the Heisman Trophy candidate glided into the Beaver Stadium north end zone untouched.

But someone did catch up to him: Nittany Lions wide receiver Brandon Polk, a redshirt sophomore speedster who’s returned from injury and made an impact through three games this season.

“Watch Brandon Polk,” Penn State coach James Franklin said, recalling Barkley’s dash. “He’s on the opposite side of the field, sprints down, catches Saquon, gets in front of a defender and then goes into the end zone and celebrates, and he’s as happy or more happy than Saquon is. I’m very pleased with him.”

Once an afterthought, Polk has excited Franklin with “his enthusiasm for his teammates, the effort he’s playing with.” The wideout, who scored in Saturday’s win over Georgia State, stood out to quarterback Trace McSorley in the offseason with the changes he made to his game.

“It’s kind of fun,” Polk said with a smile in the Beaver Stadium media room Tuesday. “I’m enjoying every second of it because it was taken away from me through injury. I really missed it.”

Polk was a fixture in the Nittany Lions’ 2015 offense, a year before a serious injury forced him to miss the last 11 games of the 2016 season. As a freshman, the 5-foot-9 weapon was Penn State’s jet sweep specialist — recording 159 yards and a touchdown on 18 rushing attempts (8.8 yards per carry). He also caught six passes for 57 yards and a score.

With the switch in offensive coordinators from John Donovan to Joe Moorhead, Polk didn’t own that jet sweep role in 2016; jet sweeps weren’t a part of Moorhead’s repertoire. Again working out of the slot, Polk had two catches and zero carries in three games before disappearing from the field. The media found out in November of Polk’s unspecified injury, forcing him to take a medical redshirt.

“Sometimes I would be down and I would let that affect me, and it would go to other people,” Polk said of the troubling time. “So for me I said, ‘Hey, our core value is positive attitude. I need to have a positive attitude through everything.’ That’s what kind of helped me get through that period when I was at my lowest.”

His parents and teammates helped him, too. Senior receiver DaeSean Hamilton, who came to Penn State with a nagging wrist injury and was forced to redshirt as a freshman, became an outlet for Polk. “He was like, ‘Look, this is what I did. I didn’t let this stop me,’” Polk added. The injured wideout watched Penn State’s 2016 run intently, trying to glean anything from the offense and wideouts that could help him in 2017.

Whatever he did worked.

Polk’s not starting this season; Hamilton is ahead of him in the slot. But McSorley’s former high school teammate has formed a rapport with the quarterback. The Briar Woods (Va.) product has three catches, including a 15-yard score on Saturday and an 18-yard sideline snare against Pitt.

McSorley, who threw eight touchdowns to Polk in high school in 2013, has noticed a considerable improvement in the wideout’s route-running.

“Before he was just always the fastest guy and being able to use that to his advantage,” McSorley said. “Now you see him setting guys up, in and out of cuts ... a lot of little details within the routes that they’re doing that he’s starting to do. We saw that through summer and really through camp where he was able to create a lot more separation.”

To Franklin, he’s been thrilled with Polk’s blocking — something the wideout takes a lot of pride in.

For a guy who’s 175 pounds soaking wet, it’s not always easy to body bigger defensive backs. But Polk doesn’t care. He has a job to do.

“Even being a smaller guy, I’m going to give everything I can for them,” Polk said. “If I don’t give them the best block, then I’m frustrated and mad at myself because I know that if they were put in that situation, they are going to do their best for me.”

That’s a mindset Polk’s taken to heart in 2017: putting his all into each and every snap.

Just take a look at Barkley’s 85-yard score. Everyone sitting in the press box, cheering from metal stadium seats and jumping on the sidelines knew Barkley was scoring when he crossed Georgia State’s 40-yard line. But Polk ran down there anyway, guiding him to paydirt and celebrating after.

Last year, Polk was physically unable to do that. Now any chance he gets, Polk is leaving it all on the field.

“Every time I’m out there,” Polk said. “I’m playing like it’s literally my last play.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 3:35 PM with the headline "WR Brandon Polk ‘enjoying every second’ of healthy, resurgent 2017 start."