LOOK: Penn State reveals throwback end zones for Homecoming game

On3 imageby:Tim Verghese10/22/21

TimVerghese

When Penn State hosts Illinois at noon ET on Saturday for the “Generations of Greatness” game, the Nittany Lions will not only don special uniforms, the team announced Friday afternoon they’ll sport retro end zones for Saturday’s contest.

In a season still capable of being a great one for the Nittany Lions, they are throwing it back and honoring their program’s history with “Generations of Greatness” uniforms. 

Though Penn State will don the usual navy blue jerseys with white pants and helmets, the look will feature small details from their past. The jerseys will have block uniform numbers from the mid 20th century, white sleeve stripes from multiple decades over the last 75 years and an image of a lion in honor of the Lion Shrine, a famous campus landmark and gift from the class of 1940. Their white pants will have the blue stripe the team wore from 1952-1968, and the helmets will feature each player’s number, a tribute to the helmets worn several times in the late 1950s through the mid 1970s.

In addition, the helmet will feature a gray facemark, instead of a navy one, white cleats instead of black and striped socks, to pay tribute to those worn on game days from 1970-1972.

Penn State could be without quarterback Sean Clifford on Saturday. The starter was pictured practicing on on Wednesday, but his status remains unknown as he splits reps at quarterback with Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux in practice.

On Tuesday, head coach James Franklin said if Clifford can’t go, there is a competition between Roberson and Veilleux as to who will start against Illinois

“We are going to split the reps between Ta’Quan and Veilleux,” Franklin said on Tuesday. “We’ll split the reps. I think someone asked me that question the other day about, ‘Will it be a competition?’ I think it’s always a competition, but it’s probably magnified a little bit. We’re looking at those guys very closely in practice and the scrimmage periods and things like that, so we will split those reps between those two evenly and make it a competition.”

Roberson, a redshirt sophomore, stepped in for Clifford against Iowa when Clifford became injured. It was Roberson’s first serious action at quarterback for Penn State and he struggled against Iowa’s defense. Roberson finished the game completing 7 of 21 passes for only 34 yards and two interceptions.

The No. 7 Nittany Lions are a 23.5-point favorite against the Fighting Illini.