“There’s only one name that matters,” Penn State’s promotional material about the football team’s new jerseys states and that name doesn’t belong to a person. The team announced on Thursday that it will remove the names of players from the back of its jerseys.
“The decision to remove the names from the jerseys was made to pay homage to the history of Penn State football and return to the tradition that represented Penn State for 125 years,” the school said in a press statement.
Players’ names were only added to the back of the jerseys in the 2012 season by then-Coach Bill O’Brien, who made the move in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
At the time, O’Brien said he decided to add individual names so Nittany Lions fans could “know and recognize these young men.” He added in 2012 (via ESPN), “They have stuck together during tough times, and I commend them for the leadership they have shown.”
O’Brien, who left to coach the Houston Texans in 2014, was replaced by James Franklin, who helped make the decision to return to the Joe Paterno-era nameless jerseys.
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