STATE COLLEGE — Penn State is going to look a lot more like, well, Penn State this season.
The university announced Thursday it will be removing the last names from the football team’s jerseys to “pay homage to the history of Penn State football and return to the tradition that represented Penn State for 125 years.”
Head coach James Franklin and several former players met with the team Thursday morning to inform them of the decision.
The university planned to have players hand out the traditional team poster Thursday night around campus. That poster will feature the 2015 team slogan that reflects the return to the nameless jerseys: “Black Shoes. Basic Blues. No Names. All Game.”
In the wake of the now-rescinded NCAA sanctions following the release of the Freeh report July 23, 2012, then-Penn State coach Bill O’Brien and his staff made what was considered a dramatic change to the uniform. They added the last names to the back of the jerseys, a move former coach Joe Paterno had resisted in deference to the team’s history.
O’Brien made the move to honor players who could have left the program in a time of great confusion and madness, but chose
instead to stay. The 2012 team, the first one to wear the last names, went 8-4 and has become an iconic one in the program’s history. Among fans, though, the last names were met with mixed reviews since.
“In 2012, for the first time in the program’s history, names adorned the back of the jersey to forever identify the men who stayed loyal, sacrificed and chose to play for this institution during the most difficult of times,” Franklin said in a statement. “The 2012 team, permanently recognized in Beaver Stadium, will hold an enduring place in our program’s history. Their commitment will never be forgotten.
“However, it’s time we bring back the tradition that represented Penn State for 125 years. We are a strong family, playing for one goal, one university and there is only one name that truly matters, Penn State.”
Penn State, which won the Pinstripe Bowl last season in its first year under Franklin, begins the 2015 campaign Sept. 5 against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field at 3:30 p.m.