Why Penn State TE Pat Freiermuth’s coaches, teammates believe he’s poised for a ‘terrific year’
Pat Freiermuth’s athletic success was never exactly a surprise.
Penn State’s sophomore tight end hails from a family of athletes — a father who played Division II basketball, an uncle who coached Div. I football and a brother who competed in Div. III. In high school, those bloodlines led to the 6-foot-5 Freiermuth excelling on both the basketball court and the football field back home in Massachusetts.
But it wasn’t just his length, frame or natural ability that turned him into one of the Big Ten’s best tight ends. Even in high school, it was evident that something else made Freiermuth “pretty special,” in the words of his high school football coach Patrick Foley, who’s also a cousin of the athletic Freiermuth family. His work ethic.
“He’s really a kid who I think buys into the idea that you have to work to get better at things,” Foley said. “It’s not going to happen just because you want it to.”
That mindset hasn’t changed for Freiermuth, who stays late after practice, runs routes and catches balls between workouts and spends an inordinate amount of time in the weight room. In fact it’s led to his name on the Mackey Award preseason watch list in addition to several All-America lists.
And, if the two-sport athlete didn’t rest on his laurels at The Brooks School prior to Penn State, he’s not about to take it easy in Happy Valley. He’s also not letting sky-high expectations get to him.
“I know that fans are expecting big things from me, but I’m kind of just doing my thing,” Freiermuth said earlier this month. “I worked hard to get to this level and where I’m at, so I’m just going to continue to do what I do. My work ethic’s continued to get even better, so I’m just going to go out there and play my game and plug out all the noise and do what I’m able to do.”
Becoming a ‘culture-driver’ for Penn State football
Head coach James Franklin pointed to the tight end as one of the team’s emerging leaders during August’s media day, despite being in just his second year with the program. And, on Saturday, Freiermuth was named one of eight captains for the Nittany Lions this season.
Foley wasn’t surprised. And, like Franklin, Penn State’s staff labeled him a leader long before Saturday.
“You see him leading by example and being more vocal at times, which is something that’s uncommon for guys to do,” tight ends coach Tyler Bowen said during camp. “Just doing the little things right and building championship habits every day, and leading by example so guys see him doing it. He becomes a culture-driver for our team.”
One of the direct beneficiaries of Freiermuth’s penchant to keep working between practices is redshirt freshman wide receiver Justin Shorter. The two have taken a lot of reps together during the offseason and spend time together every day before practice, tossing balls back and forth to each other in the weight room.
Spending that extra time together is what Shorter said has helped him make offseason improvements.
“I’ve been able to learn from him and follow in his footsteps, what he does every day to be able to catch every ball,” Shorter said. “And I feel like I have definitely grown as a person and as a player just by working with him and seeing how hard he works and trying to mirror it.”
The two have also spent time together on the JUGS machine, a drill Freiermuth said has gotten a bit too easy for him. So to toughen things up, he’s taken to dunking balls in water, and putting up a bag to block his line of vision from the automatic throwing machine.
“He literally catches every ball you throw his way; it’s so scary,” Shorter said.
Making the most of the offseason
Freiermuth also made some serious changes in his diet this offseason, spent some more time in the weight room and put more of an emphasis on recovery after a workout. At Lift for Life in July, Freiermuth told reporters he packed on 30 pounds since first setting foot on campus, and that he’s reduced his percent body fat by 2% over the summer.
“I just feel more elusive, more fast, more explosive,” he said at the time. “I just feel better, more energetic, just all-around great.”
The decision to eat healthier was made collectively by Freiermuth and his roommates, with each of them specializing in a different dish — from Judge Culpepper’s self-described “pretty mean salmon” to P.J. Mustipher’s chicken and Freiermuth’s pork chops, the teammates work together to keep each other on track.
For breakfast, it’s two eggs and yogurt, followed by brown rice with chicken and broccoli for lunch.
“Pat made a dramatic change in his body from last year to this year,” linebacker Micah Parsons said. “He’s leaner, dropped his body fat; I’ve seen this guy work all summer. We compete in everything, 1-on-1s, blocking, things like that. He’s one of the only guys who can really get with me.”
Even during the team’s week off this summer, Freiermuth was still looking to get in workouts. He spent a day of his discretionary period at home in Massachusetts training with New England Patriots safety Obi Melifonwu. The pair worked on running routes and swapped tips about how each other’s positions groups react in different situations.
While Freiermuth’s athleticism and ability to catch the ball stood out to Melifonwu, it was the same quality that Foley saw that makes the Patriot think Freiermuth has the potential to play at the next level.
“It’s him having the awareness or wanting to learn, wanting to be out on the field,” Melifonwu told the CDT. “There’s a lot of players that around that time are out doing whatever, but the fact that he came out that day and decided to do field work and get better, that shows a lot.”
‘He’ll show he’s the best tight end in the conference’
How much all Freiermuth’s work over the offseason will pay off will soon be realized as the season kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Idaho. But if the words of his coaches and teammates — and their grins — are indications, when asked how Freiermuth has improved, the ceiling for the tight end’s sophomore year is pretty high.
“Overall, he’s just getting a little bit better in every aspect of the game — in the run game, protection, route running and you can see that show up here at Day 1 in camp,” Bowen said during the first week of August. “We hope that continues to improve and it will.”
Having looked back at film from his first day of camp a year ago, Freiermuth said the difference was “crazy.” The biggest change, he said, is that he’s just feeling more comfortable. Whether it comes from the extra time spent tossing balls back in forth with Shorter, the physical changes he made to his body, training with an NFL player or just knowing the playbook better, he said he’s feeling all-around more confident.
But maybe not more confident than his teammates are about him. (After all, Parsons did tweet his belief that Freiermuth will be the best TE in the Big Ten.) But the consensus from those who know him is that the best is still yet to come.
“Pat’s going to have a terrific year this year,” Parsons said, before doubling down on his earlier tweet. “He will show he’s the best tight end in the conference and one of the top tight ends in the country.
“Or the best.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 6:44 AM.
