JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gregg Garrity was 4 or 5 years old when he first remembers seeing his father making The Catch in the 1983 Sugar Bowl.
"I saw it on a video of Sports Illustrated"s top 10 plays or something like that," the younger Garrity said. "I thought, "Man, maybe I"ll be on there some day." It was pretty cool."
Gregg Garrity Sr. made a diving grab in the end zone for what turned out to be the winning points in Penn State"s 27-23 victory over Georgia for the national championship.
Now, 33 years later, the younger Garrity and the 2015 Nittany Lions (7-5) get a chance to face Georgia (9-3) in the TaxSlayer Bowl Saturday at noon (TV-ESPN) at EverBank Field.
"I"m just excited for this bowl game," he said, "returning punts, trying to help the team and hopefully making a big impact on the game.
"It"s kind of funny how things worked out, us playing Georgia."
The elder Garrity"s touchdown catch from Todd Blackledge gave Penn State a 27-17 lead over Georgia in the fourth quarter on its way to its first national title. It"s one of the most iconic plays in school history.
It was immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated and sold as a poster for many years.
"I can"t even count how many times I"ve seen it," the younger Garrity said. "It"s shown every once in a while on the Jumbotron at Penn State. We do have a lot of the Sports Illustrated covers in our house all along the wall.
"It"s definitely a good deal."
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The younger Garrity, who wears the same number as his father (19), is scheduled to return punts for Penn State against the Bulldogs. He replaced DeAndre Thompkins, who lost his job after he fumbled a punt against Michigan. It was the third fumbled punt this year for Thompkins.
Garrity, also known as "Pook," made his first punt return two years ago as a freshman against Purdue at Beaver Stadium, replacing Von Walker, who was injured. He called it overwhelming.
"I can specifically remember Coach Vandy (Ron Vanderlinden) asking Coach (Bill) O"Brien, "Who do you want to catch the punt in place of Von?"" said Garrity. "He thought for a second and said, "Get Garrity in there." I was like: "Oh, boy. Here we go."
"My heart was pounding. I remember seeing the ball go up, and I honestly can"t remember anything from there. It was definitely a cool experience."
He"s a third-generation Penn State football player, following his father, who lettered from 1980-82 and who played six seasons in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, and his grandfather, Jim, who lettered from 1952-54 and was recruited by then-assistant coach Joe Paterno.
His father and mother Linda, will be at Saturday"s game. His grandfather was not able to travel to Florida to see it.
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"It"s something you dream about when you"re growing up," Garrity said about playing for the Lions. "My grandfather was the first recruit for JoePa. My dad obviously came here and had a pretty good career. I"m just really blessed that I had the opportunity to come here as well."
O"Brien recruited the 5-10, 157-pound Garrity as a preferred walk-on from North Allegheny High School, where he caught 68 passes for 1,200 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior and helped the Tigers win the PIAA Class AAAA title.
At Penn State, he saw action in three games in 2013 and three games in 2014, making his first career start in the Pinstripe Bowl. He made his first career catch, for 4 yards, against Indiana this year and has returned two punts for 9 yards.
"Punt returning has been something I"ve done my whole life, ever since I was a little kid," Garrity said. "It"s definitely something I"m comfortable with."
He"s also comfortable with talking about his father"s catch.
"I try to keep that on the low," he said. "The word got around. I get asked about it quite often. "Yeah, that was my dad. That was him.""
This article was written by Rich Scarcella from Reading Eagle, Pa. and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
Source: http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2016-01-01/penn-state-football-gregg-garrity-jr-extends-family-legacy
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