Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth eager to open season

When the Big Ten canceled the 2020-21 football season in August because of the coronavirus pandemic, Penn State junior tight end Pat Freiermuth’s parents went to work.

“My parents have been a big advocate for us to play,” Freiermuth said in a video conference on Tuesday. “They did a great job. My mother and my dad did a great job kind of voicing their opinions and using their voices as parents for myself and obviously all the players on the team and other Big Ten schools.

“It was really cool that all the Big Ten schools came together and kind of created this whole parents association united thing and kind of stood up for us and expressed their doubt on the season that was supposed to happen then got canceled. I’m appreciative of my mom and my dad for sticking and doing what’s right.”

With the urging of various parents of football players in the conference, the Big Ten reversed its decision and opted to play a shortened season that will begin this weekend. Penn State opens Saturday at Indiana.

Freiermuth’s parents won’t be there, however. They won’t be at any of his games this season.

The Freiermuths live in Massachusetts, and that state has imposed strict guidelines limiting travel in and out of the state because of the coronavirus.

“Obviously it stinks,” said Freiermuth, a native of Merrimac, Mass. “The travel ban and stuff like that to other states, they’re not going to be able to come to any games, which is very sad and heartbreaking for myself because they haven’t missed a game at Penn State from my whole time here.”

Even without his parents’ presence, Freiermuth appreciates just having the ability to play any games.

“There’s a lot of emotions coming with this season with it being canceled, then being put back on. All this kind of emotional roller coaster we’ve been put through, it’s definitely tough, but at the end of the day, it’s football. I was talking to (tight ends coach Tyler Bowen on Monday night), and we were gameplanning for Indiana a little bit. Just talking about all the aspects of making this year crazy and everything. At the end of the day, there’s a football field, and there’s going to be 11 versus 11, and there’s going to be a football and we’re going to count points to see who wins.

“At the end of the day, you have to control what you can control. I’ve taken that approach this year when I’m in the building or I’m doing football, I put my phone away. I kind of block out all the rest of the noise and just focus on what I can do to become better and what I can do to help this team be successful moving forward.”

Freiermuth figures to be a key component to Penn State’s offense. Last season, he appeared in 13 games and caught 43 passes for 507 yards and had seven touchdown receptions. He was named second-team All-Big Ten.

He seems to figure those totals can improve with a new offensive coordinator in Kirk Ciarrocca.

“Obviously, the offense is going to be exciting. It’s going to be fun to debut this Saturday. You’re going to see a lot of similarities from last year, but obviously there’s going to be some new wrinkles. Just bringing Coach Ciarrocca’s background and seeing what he can do and what he puts to the offense. It’s awesome. He puts his playmakers in space. That’s kind of what you can see. The kind of differences like last year, we would call plays to call plays and to coverage. And hopefully it sticks. This year, it’s more of let’s get our guys that get the ball that makes plays and let’s see what they can do and all of that.

“I’m just excited to get this offense rolling and see what we can do.”