Crossing paths: Penn State TE Mike Gesicki frequents restaurant of Michigan QB’s mom

Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki frequents The Naked Egg Cafe for breakfast — and when he does, the senior chats with someone who’ll be firmly cheering against the Nittany Lions on Saturday.

Paula O’Korn, the mother of Michigan starting quarterback John O’Korn, works at the State College restaurant.

“Always have great interactions with her. She’s a great lady,” Gesicki said of O’Korn, a Huntingdon native. “She’ll ask how the team’s doing, how I’m doing, how I’m feeling. And when her son became the starting quarterback, I congratulated her on that and wished her the best and all that kind of stuff.”

It’s funny how the two paths have crossed.

John O’Korn, who transferred to Michigan from Houston after the 2014 season, starred at Huntingdon as a sophomore. Then, his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the quarterback impressed at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas. He received eight FBS offers — but never one from Penn State.

Now, here the O’Korns are. Michigan’s quarterback is ready to take on the team he grew up cheering for in a stadium just 30 minutes away from his childhood home.

Paula O’Korn will obviously be rooting on her son and the Wolverines. But when Penn State isn’t playing Michigan, she pulls for a few Nittany Lions, too.

Gesicki is one of them.

“Mike Gesicki is a great guy,” O’Korn told MGoBlue.com. “He’s phenomenal, and he’ll be really kind. He’ll ask, ‘How’s John doing?’ I’ll ask how he’s doing. When he came back from his injury, it made me feel real good.”

Recruiting challenges

White Out games are always huge for recruiting, and this weekend will be no exception. The sidelines are going to be flooded on Saturday.

Of course, that’s a good thing for James Franklin and his staff. But as Franklin put it after Wednesday’s practice, it’s also “an organizational nightmare.”

“You don’t want to say no to anybody, but how do you make sure that all these kids that come have a good experience? If you come, but don’t have the manpower to show them attention, then it can backfire on you” Franklin said. “That’s where a lot of people don’t understand football and staff sizes. That’s why you have the number that you have. If you’re going to sign a class of 25 guys, as an example, you have to recruit at the starting point maybe 250 kids to get to that 25. How do you manage all that while we’re at the game? Who’s making sure that the kid who got stuck in traffic and get up late, and who can’t get into the game, (is taken care of)? Who’s managing that issue?

“It’s a nightmare. ... It is really a challenge.”

Quotable

“I think he’s fascinating. He’s an interesting guy. But I don’t know him very well. A lot of respect for him and what he’s been able to do as a player and a coach.” — Franklin, on relationship with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh

This story was originally published October 18, 2017 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Crossing paths: Penn State TE Mike Gesicki frequents restaurant of Michigan QB’s mom."