Who's the next White Out star? Ranking Penn State football's 7 best over the years
The Penn State football White Out is nearly 20 years old.
So who will be its next, great Nittany Lion star — the one who rises up on one of college football's loudest, brightest, most iconic nights?
Penn State will host its 15th full-stadium White Out Saturday against the Iowa Hawkeyes (7:30 p.m., CBS).
This all began in 2004, with just the student section wearing white for the Purdue game. It expanded to the entire stadium a few years later and is now considered a destination event.
Who will become the next White Out star?
Here's Penn State's top performers over the years, ranked in order:
7. Saquon Barkley
He wowed in the White Out win over Michigan in 2017, from start to finish.
His direct-snap, 69-yard touchdown run got the undefeated Lions rolling early. He scored again, moments later, on a run around the right edge.
But his most memorable came in the fourth quarter as a receiver. As Trace McSorley's lofting pass hit him perfectly on the hands, in sprinting stride, he bobbled the ball high into the air.
Would he lose it in the lights, spectacularly so?
Of course not. He reached and pulled it in as he crossed the goal line.
6. KJ Hamler
One of the longest runs in school history, in front of their largest Beaver Stadium crowd ever.
The Ohio State game, 2018. KJ Hamler turned a quick slant pass in the second quarter into a 93-yard, nationally-televised foot race. He won, beating the entire Buckeye secondary to the end zone for a 13-0 lead in what would be another excruciating, one-point defeat.
And he was even better the following year vs. Michigan.
He scored at the beginning and the end of the 2019 White Out on pass plays. He also had 65 yards on two returns − and nearly much more: His 100-yard kickoff sprint to start the second half was called back because of a holding penalty.
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Best yet? The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Hamler clinched the game at the end as a running back. He took a handoff, lowered his shoulder and gained four yards on fourth-and-3 to run out the clock.
5. Tamba Hali
Other defenders may have produced more during the first prime time White Out.
Linebackers Paul Posluzsny and Dan Connor had monster tackle efforts on that 2005 night against Ohio State. Safety Calvin Lowery made the key interception.
But defensive end terror Tamba Hali made the dramatic play that ended the game and announced Penn State's re-emergence on the national scene.
Ohio State was driving for a tying score late when Hali broke free and hard off the right edge.
His backside hit landed so perfectly on Troy Smith that the QB pinwheeled end over end like a Charlie Brown cartoon.
The ball flew loose, Penn State recovered and ran out the clock.
Beaver Stadium may have never been louder.
4. Allen Robinson
He produced two of the great Penn State catches — including one of the most memorable plays in Beaver Stadium history — on the same drive.
Who would have predicted the NCAA-sanctioned Nittany Lions to upset Michigan in four overtimes?
It would never have happened if not for Robinson's heroics in the final minute of regulation. He started by astonishingly getting a foot in bounds on a sideline pass. Then came the Miraculous Elevation − leaping and extending high in the air to grab Christian Hackenberg bomb. He pulled it in as he landed on his back on the 1 yard line.
Penn State was rescued.
3. Trace McSorley
The three-year starting quarterback was a stat machine in the White Out.
In the 2017 victory over Michigan he threw for 282 yards, ran for 76 and produced four touchdowns (three on the ground).
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He was even better in the gut-wrenching, one-point loss to Ohio State the following year in front of that record crowd. He set a school record with 461 yards of total offense (286 passing, 175 running), and nearly willed the Lions to victory.
Of course, he also led the stunning 2016 upset of Ohio State, throwing for a touchdown and running for another.
2. Marcus Allen/Grant Haley
Marcus Allen and Grant Haley teamed for one of the most iconic plays in school history, producing one of the most unlikely victories.
Who will ever forget the block and run back?
The Lions were a 17.5-point underdog to the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in 2016.
Fitting, that such an unthinkable occurrence would spark this victory with five minutes remaining: Allen blocking Ohio State's rushed field goal attempt ... the ball bouncing backwards ... Haley scooping it up and sprinting 60 yards for the winning points.
That win ignited perhaps Penn State's greatest comeback season, all the way to the Rose Bowl against USC.
1. Derrick Williams
No one rose up to play bigger on this stage. Derrick Williams' defining moments helped to cement the White Out as a tradition.
It started in that 2005 game, the first prime time White Out. The true freshman took a pitch and bolted around the right side to give the Lions their first lead of the night in the titanic victory over Ohio State.
Go to the first full-stadium White Out against Notre Dame two years later.
Trailing 7-0, Williams fielded a punt under heavy pressure in the early-evening haze. He made the first defender miss, accelerated and began weaving through coverage, a bit like Barkley would do at the Rose Bowl a decade later.
The 78-yard touchdown ignited the Lions to a rollicking victory.
His best, though, came a year later.
He clinched a rain-soaked White Out win over Illinois by returning a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown − an exclamation to a career night. He produced more than 200 all-purpose yards receiving, running and returning and scored three times.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football: White Out with Saquon Barkley, Allen Robinson
