He's Penn State's starting quarterback, that's who.
When Robert Bolden got knocked upside the head last Saturday, Matt McGloin, a basically never heard of before walk-on quarterback, stepped onto the field against Minnesota and led the Nittany Lions to a win. Normally you'd have expected sophomore Kevin Newsome to have stepped in, but he was sidelined with the flu. So McGloin was it. And the kid didn't play that bad, albeit against a horrible Minnesota defense, finishing 6-for-13 for 76 yards, 2 TD, and 1 INT. But it wasn't all roses.
McGloin's 42 yard touchdown to Derek Moyecould not have been thrown any better. It obviously gave him a lot of confidence, because he was going for another home run on his next pass which was horribly underthrown and picked off by the safety.
With Joe Paterno announcing that Robert Bolden is still suffering from memory loss and concussion like symptoms, it's a foregone conclusion that McGloin will be starting against Michigan. But who the hell is this kid? Is he some super-recruited all star quarterback who decided out of nowhere to play for Penn State? No. No, he's not.
McGloin was a lightly recruited quarterback prospect out of Scranton, PA, who doesn't appear to have ever been offered a Division One scholarship (Scout/Rivals). But, according to the Scout profile, he can rock the white boy headband. Despite being a Pennsylvania All-State selection, McGloin never garnered a star on either service as a part of the Penn State 2008 class.
In 2009 McGloin rode the pine, and was apparently a safeguard in case both Kevin Newsome and Daryll Clarkwere run over by a bus and the guy in the Lion costume wasn't able to suit up. However, with Clark's departure and the total lack of development from Kevin Newsome, all of a sudden the unrated walk-on was in a three-way battle for the starting job at Penn State with Newsome and freshman Robert Bolden.
Surprisingly, McGloin performed well enough in the spring and fall to warrant Black Shoe Diaries actually devoting an entire post to him. Even Penn Live made the case that McGloin should be Penn State's starter. Yeah. That didn't happen. Following Bolden being named the starter and the Youngstown State game, BSD had this to say:
McGloin continued his free fall from presumed starter to third string mop up QB. He entered the game with less than a minute left and handed off to Curtis Dukesfor a gain a five. This is the present and the future for Matthew McGloin.
Well... not quite the total future. McGloin will be starting on Saturday in appears to have a little of the Rex Grossman "*&% It, I'm Going Deep" mentality. Apparently supremely confident in his abilities, McGloin loves chucking the ball downfield, so Michigan will have to expect the deep ball. Well thrown or not.
McGloin is the founder of the PSU Chapter
McGloin appears to be cut from the Nick Sheridan mold. Not very fast. Not very tall. Not a lot of arm strength. But he makes up for it all with moxie! But before we get ahead of ourselves remember one thing, Nick Sheridan won a game or two as a starting quarterback. Michigan would be well advised to take this quarterback, walk-on or otherwise, seriously.