Penn State football's Lift for Life event sets time, date details
Penn State football is returning for another year of its showcase philanthropic event this summer. Announced on Thursday afternoon, the Nittany Lions will put on their 20th annual Lift for Life at 4 p.m. on June 22.
The event is set to take place, as it did last year in its return from a two-year COVID-19 hiatus to the public, on the turf field outside the Lasch Football Complex.
It traces back to founder Scott Shirley who, following a kidney cancer diagnosis to his father, Don, joined with teammates to help raise money to help tackle the rare disease community. In the time since, Uplifting Athletes chapters have formed throughout the college football landscape, now featuring more than two dozen groups nation wide.
Though unspecified in the initial announcement, past iterations of Lift for Life have included a $10 per adult and $5 for kids recommended donation to spectators, with proceeds benefiting the rare disease community.
Looking ahead to Penn State football’s 2023 season
Moved to an earlier June date the past two years from its traditional spot in the middle of July, the event still will serve as an unofficial countdown to the start of Penn State’s preseason training camp. Expected to get underway in late July ahead of a Sept. 2 date with West Virginia at Beaver Stadium (7:30 p.m., NBC), the Nittany Lions’ pursuit of a strong 2023 season is taking place this offseason.
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And, according to head coach James Franklin, who joined On3’s the Hard Count with J.D. PicKell on Thursday, the program is hard at work with the intent of achieving its goals this season while simultaneously drowning out some of the external narratives that have taken hold.
“I think what we just try to do is control the things that we can control and the external noise is not one of them. So we just really try to spend as little time on that as possible, and make sure that we’re doing all the things that we need to do within the program, within the locker room, the right way,” Franklin said. “Our players have started summer school… on Monday, so they’re here doing workouts and getting some of the freshmen that were able to show up adjusted to how we operate around here.
“So we’re full full steam ahead. And (we’re) excited about this year and what the season could bring. But, from an external noise standpoint, try to as much as we can tune that stuff out and focus on the things that are gonna allow us to be successful against West Virginia on opening weekend.”
