Penn State football freshmen, early enrollees dance at Thon 2019 pep rally
Rising redshirt senior Garrett Taylor hoped on Saturday afternoon that the football team’s 2019 Thon dance would live up to his freshman year’s showing, a pep rally-winning performance. Instead, the men’s gymnastics team took home the title for the third straight time.
But the young Nittany Lions still brought life to an already amped Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday night.
As is tradition, freshmen represented the Penn State football team, coordinating a dance that featured 2018 contributors PJ Mustipher and Jahan Dotson and a handful of early enrollees. The team danced to a mix of Chris Brown’s “I Can Transform Ya,” Joe Budden’s “Pump It Up” and NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”.
Marquis Wilson, a three-star cornerback from Connecticut who signed in December, starred in the dance — wearing a pink ski mask and pulling off a back flip. Four-star quarterback Michael Johnson lip synced Justin Timberlake’s chorus on “Bye Bye Bye,” while 2019 signees Brandon Smith, Lance Dixon, Noah Cain, Adisa Isaac, Tyler Rudolph and Brenton Strange danced in the background.
The Penn State freshmen weren’t the only football players on the stage, either. Program record-holder Mike Gesicki, wearing his No. 86 Miami Dolphins jersey, made an appearance during the pep rally to surprise Four Diamonds child Landon Knepp.
This story was originally published February 17, 2019 at 4:22 AM.
