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Pat Freiermuth: Penn State White-Out is 'unreal'

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko07/03/23

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(Photo by David Bergman /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images/Getty Images) (Set Number: X81132 TK1 R1 F97 )

Former Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth is a big fan of the white-out at the university, calling it “unreal.”

Freiermuth didn’t go far for his NFL career, playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which have their own cool traditions. But as far as Penn State, the school might have a home game tradition better than most.

Freiermuth talked about the white out and its tradition on Pardon My Take.

“You guys have to go, it’s unreal,” Freiermuth said. “Like walking down the tunnel, you can hear (everything). There’s nothing cooler than warming up in front of the whole stadium packed or something … 20 minutes before the game. And like you when you go in the locker room, like you can hear the stands jumping.”

Generally, the white-out game is the best one to watch for Penn State. The Nittany Lions routinely sell out, but this one just hits different.

Every single fan in the stadium wears white and it is louder than any other game on the campus. Plus, it’s always at night.

When talking with hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter, Freiermuth was asked if Penn State got it easy with Minnesota being the white-out game in 2023.

“I think more of it’s the Big Ten Noon kickoff, whatever,” Freiermuth said. “They schedule big time games for that. Yeah, no disrespect to Minnesota … I lost to Minnesota (before).”

Freiermuth doesn’t have the white-out anymore, but he’s got a good NFL career going at the moment. The 24-year-old tight end was a second round pick by the Steelers in the 2021 NFL Draft.

In 32 career games (17 starts), Freiermuth has 123 catches, 1,229 yards, nine touchdowns and 10 yards per catch. During his rookie season, he had four catches for 25 yards in the Steelers’ Wild Card playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Friermuth played just four games for Penn State in 2020 but was extremely productive throughout his career. He finished with 92 catches, 1,185 yards, 16 touchdowns and 12.9 yards per catch. As a member of the Class of 2018, Freiermuth was a four-star recruit out of North Andover (Mass.) Brooks School, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the state, the No. 7 tight end in the class and the No. 200 overall prospect in the class.