A closer look at the Penn State ‘Generations of Greatness’ uniforms

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. 

When Penn State hosts Illinois at noon on Saturday, they will don the usual navy blue jerseys with white pants and helmets, but the look will feature small details from their past.

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒

the breakdown: pic.twitter.com/S7oROb3vLQ

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) October 21, 2021

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.

The facemasks, socks and cleats the team will wear channel previous uniforms as well, including cleats worn in the 1979 Sugar Bowl. Joe Paterno-led No. 1 Penn State lost to No. 2 Alabama 14-7 as legendary Crimson Tide head coach Bear Bryant claimed his fifth national title.

No. 7 Penn State is a 23.5-point favorite. They hope to get a win before heading to Columbus next weekend to take on No. 5 Ohio State.

Injured Clifford seen practicing this week

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was pictured throwing at practice on Wednesday, a positive development as the starter has been dealing with an undisclosed injury that he suffered against Iowa on Oct. 9. He split reps this week with backups Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux.

Wednesday was not the first time the senior practiced this week, but his status still remains unknown for Saturday. 

“Yeah, not sure at this stage, all three of them took reps — a third, a third, a third,” head coach James Franklin said. “We’ll see. I don’t know at this stage. But we’ll see where he’s at by Saturday. Hopefully, obviously, we’ll have an idea before that. But it was good to see him be able to get some reps today at practice, all three of them.”

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

On3’s Tim Verghese contributed to this report.