The Whisperer Remembers ... Lance Mcllhenny.

He was a wizard with the football, knowing when to hold it, when to fold it, when to pitch it, and when to run. With arguably the greatest one-two punch in college football lining up behind him at all times, his job might sound simple, but make no mistake about it, his was a tall task indeed. Tall because the crowd came to see those two thoroughbreds run wild, but he knew in order for them to be all they could be … they first had to be tamed.

Taming meant sometimes he’d take the hard hits, fooling the defense into thinking he was the runner they needed to stop. On other days, taming meant looking outside and tossing it to a speedy wideout … yeah, they had those back in his day too, and boy, believe you me, his team had their fair share of burners.

They were the best team the land had to offer in 1982, and had it not been for a tie in their final regular season the crown of national championship would’ve fitted perfectly on their heads. As it stands those of us who had the pleasure of watching him work simply smile. We smile because while the polls said Penn State was the best the land had to offer, all who saw this kid and those kids from Highland Park … well, we knew …

Whisperer Nation, you’ve been holding and folding for far too long. Today, take that pitch and run as we celebrate the greatness of former SMU Mustang quarterback, one of the greatest option quarterbacks ever … the one and only Lance Mcllhenny!