Tyler Warren’s first Penn State game was a loss that could’ve been avoided. It was against Indiana in 2020. With a 21-20 lead and under two minutes remaining, all the Nittany Lions needed was a first down to burn the clock. Instead, Devyn Ford mistakenly scored a touchdown, giving the Hooisers another chance to win. They historically took advantage of that.
Warren wasn’t going to make the same mistake at Minnesota, even with the opportunity to break a program record. Warren hauled in the first-down pass from quarterback Drew Allar that sealed Penn State’s 26-25 win on Saturday. He could’ve gone untouched into the end zone and broken Pat Freiermuth’s school record for career receiving touchdowns by a tight end.
Instead, Warren went down.
“Not surprising that Tyler Warren is going to put the team first,” coach James Franklin said. “And I’m a big believer in this: the more you give to others and pour into others, it comes back to you 10 times. And I think Tyler Warren’s a perfect example of that.”
Warren had it all mapped out. He reminded Allar before the play not to find him or, frankly anyone, in the end zone. Whoever the ball was ultimately thrown to was supposed to go down without even thinking of another option. This exact sequence has unsurprisingly been drilled frequently by a team that was forced to learn a hard lesson four seasons ago.
“That’s something we’ve worked in practice and we’ve drilled it so many times, that was kind of the first time we got to actually do it and execute it in a game like that,” Warren said.
Warren will have another chance to break Freiermiuth’s record against Maryland on Saturday. He’s fine with waiting another week. Despite being a finalist for the Mackey Award and in conversations for the Heisman Trophy, Warren isn’t going to let his statistics outweigh his greatest goal. He wants to win.
There will come a time in the near future when Warren departs the Nittany Lions as one of the greatest offensive players in program history. He’s a favorite to win the Mackey Award for the nation’s top tight end and it’s almost certain he’ll hear his name called in the first two rounds of the upcoming NFL Draft.
Warren has taken on a novel role that some tight ends may not be comfortable with. He catches, he blocks, he runs and he throws. The final play of Penn State’s win at Minnesota served as a metaphor for the type of player Warren is. He will do anything to win, whether that hurts his statistics or not.
“Within our team success comes individual success, and I think he’s a perfect example of that,” Allar said. “Obviously, we’ve had a pretty successful year as a team, but he’s also had a really good year individually, and I think that goes hand in hand.”
“I think it’s really good for younger guys in our program to see a guy like that and his attitude, the way he practices, the way he works, and the way he goes out and performs, and how unselfish he is, and you know how well that’s turning out for him and his future.”
