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Penn State legacy Anthony Sacca feeling no pressure to follow his dad to State College

Anthony Sacca has seen the videos of his dad’s collegiate days when Tony quarterbacked Penn State from 1988 through 1991. Anthony’s grandmother had the games converted from VHS to DVD, realizing that it would be fun for the family to see.

“I’ve watched the Fiesta Bowl, the Holiday Bowl, when they played Miami, Southern Cal,” Anthony said. “When I was little, I used to watch them all the time. I’m not sure now if we even have a DVD player anymore.”

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Anthony has also heard his father’s stories about Penn State countless times. Seemingly every time the Sacca family drove from New Jersey to State College and walked around campus or attended a game, Tony would point out where he lived each year and what remains of the spots he used to frequent downtown.

“Now him and his mom just look at me and roll their eyes when I say it because they’ve heard these different stories of being at Ye Olde College Diner at 3 a.m.,” Tony said. “I still bring them up because I enjoyed it.”

When Tony was a recruit and took official visits to Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Florida, nobody was tracking his every move or cared how many times he was on any campus. As was typical during that era, Tony’s recruitment was truncated into his senior year of high school. College coaches did call his family’s house in New Jersey, but their primary means of communication came via mail. Tony’s parents kept a personalized letter he received from Pitt’s Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino, who made their plea for the Panthers.

Tony and Anthony Sacca on a visit to State College, Pa.

And now Tony’s mailbag is getting stuffed with letters from college football programs once again, this time addressed to Anthony — a four-star linebacker in the 2025 class. Tony, as his parents did, hopes to keep some of the more notable letters that coaches send his son. One thing is clear: Nearly everything about his son’s recruitment is different from his own.

Tony does find it amusing that coaches and recruiting staffers at every school they visit have done their homework and are aware that he was once Penn State’s quarterback and that he was selected in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft.

“Most of the guys I say faintly remember who I was,” said the elder Sacca, who is a health and driver’s education teacher at Burlington City High School in New Jersey about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia.

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Anthony, who plays at St. Joe’s Prep in Philadelphia, is ranked No. 140 overall and No. 2 in Pennsylvania in the 247Sports Composite. He was once a left-handed quarterback but moved to defense after he enrolled at St. Joe’s and the varsity team needed depth at safety. He’s working at outside linebacker and strong safety, with many college teams projecting the 16-year-old as an outside linebacker at the next level.

Sacca is working to trim his list of colleges and, yes, he’s heard fans make the assumption that as a Penn State legacy — and especially as a linebacker — he’s going to end up at Linebacker U.

The Penn State connections are deep. He’s being recruited by Nittany Lions cornerbacks coach Terry Smith, one of Tony’s top wide receiver targets during his playing days. Former St. Joe’s head coach Gabe Infante, who was hired at Penn State in the winter of 2022 as an analyst, has also been a point of contact for Anthony.

“The interest is there obviously. I’ve been watching Penn State football since I was a little kid, but I gotta see other options, too,” Anthony said. “I like them a lot, but I’m definitely not dead set on them. … There’s no pressure in my household or anything to go to Penn State. There’s the occasional person you’ll see out and they’re like you’re going to Penn State, right?”

Anthony would like to visit Wisconsin, where Luke Fickell’s staff has made him a priority. There’s even a connecting point there with another one of Tony’s former Penn State teammates, Todd Rucci. Hayden and Nolan Rucci, Todd’s sons, both play for the Badgers. Nolan, a five-star prospect and the top-ranked player in Pennsylvania in the 2021 cycle, picked Wisconsin over Penn State.

Wisconsin offered!!🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/ecbNsP5ev9

— Anthony Sacca (@saccaanthony) January 20, 2023

Anthony also hopes to take an unofficial visit to Ohio State. He was impressed when Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles showed up to one of his high school baseball practices. Knowles, a Philadelphia native, is a 1983 graduate of St. Joe’s Prep. The powerhouse high school football program figures to garner plenty of attention nationally this year as the alma mater of Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., considered to be the best wide receiver in the country, and Kyle McCord, a strong contender to win the Buckeyes’ quarterback derby.

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It was McCord’s dad, Derek, who encouraged the Sacca family to look at St. Joe’s when Anthony was in seventh grade. Derek, a former quarterback at Rutgers, spoke glowingly of what the school was doing to help develop Kyle.

“Ohio State has been in contact as of late trying to get me to campus at some point,” Anthony said. “Maybe end of July we’ll get up to Ohio State at some point, but we haven’t really figured that out yet.”

Sacca visited Penn State last season and took trips to Notre Dame and Michigan in April. USC, now making a bigger effort to recruit the Big Ten footprint, extended a scholarship offer in May. Anthony said the idea of playing on the other side of the country isn’t as daunting with the Trojans set to enter the Big Ten in 2024.

“Every place that we’ve been to has been fantastic,” Tony said. “They know what they’re doing when they get you on campus. You don’t get on the plane and go home and go, ‘Yeah, I don’t really know about that.’ Every place we’re looking at each other going, ‘Geez.’ All these places are fantastic and they’re very impressive. ‘They don’t let you leave unimpressed.”

Finding time to get to as many schools as possible isn’t easy. St. Joe’s has its own jam-packed summer training schedule complete with a service trip and camp. In the fall, more than half of the team’s games are played on Saturdays, making it difficult for Anthony to make college visits. He hopes to revisit some of his finalists next winter to get a better look.

In the meantime, Tony needs to teach Anthony how to drive. And having a dad who is a driver’s ed teacher critiquing every turn might induce even more eye rolls from a teenager than listening to college recruiters try to figure out if they played against his dad.

Anthony is taking everything in stride.

“He’s gonna make his own mark no matter where he’s playing,” Tony said.

(Photos courtesy of Tony Sacca)

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Billy Koelling

Update: 2024-06-29