On Thursday evening, the community came together to celebrate Schuylkill County native Tyler Elsdon starting his first game as a Penn State linebacker.
Whether or not, you love or hate Penn State, when a local earns a spot on the team, all of Schuylkill County will support them.
Early last week, Penn State Football Head Coach James Franklin announced that sophomore Tyler Elsdon, a native of Frackville, and 2020 graduate of North Schuylkill, would start as middle linebacker for the Nittany Lions on Thursday evening against Purdue.
The news spread quickly on social media and his loyal fans were immediately ready to celebrate.
His alma mater, North Schuylkill, announced a dress down day for Thursday for all students and faculty in the district if they wore Penn State attire, and the Schuylkill County Treasurer's Office, where Elsdon's mom works, also held a dress down day.
In his hometown, the Frackville Elks held a Tailgate Party for the community to come out and watch the game outside on the big screen.
Nearly 200 people attended, including Elsdon's parents, Lou and Nea Griffin.
"Tyler is an amazing story, he has done everything on his own. We got him where he needed to go but he did the rest", said Nea Griffin.
Nea said she spoke to Tyler around 5:00pm, Thursday evening, and he told her "Mom, just don't have a heart attack. I'm ready, I'm ready for this. I have my head together and I have everything together as if this was a high school football game".
His mom also shared that Tyler always writes "BKM" on his wristband for each game, which means "Bloody Knuckle Mentality". Nea said "For him, that Bloody Knuckle Mentality is, that's his job. He needs to achieve and reach his goals".
Penn State went on to win 35-31 over Purdue. Tyler recorded 3 defensive tackles during the game.
