The Number 22
Running Backs who wore #22—
At the end of WWII, Penn State was playing one-platoon, single-wing football and was utilizing a player numbering scheme where the jersey number indicated the player’s position on the field. Quarterbacks commonly were numbered in the 20’s (with some notable exceptions like #33 Richie Lucas), fullbacks in the 30’s, right halfbacks in the teens, and left halfbacks in the 40’s. The line saw centers in the 50’s, guards in the 60’s, tackles in the 70’s, with the ends in the 80’s. Nobody wore single-digits or anything in the 90’s in this concept. Rip Engle and later Joe Paterno continued this pattern for roughly two decades until the 1971 season when all the QBs were wearing numbers in the teens for the first time.
This means the number 22 was initially a quarterback’s number (and occasionally a Safety’s number since that was the position the QB played on defense in variations of the one-platoon system that continued through 1964). And a total of 8 QBs at PSU wore this number including three well-known starters in the 50’s and 60’s (Tony Rados, Milt Plum & Chuck Burkhart).
So, 22 would not be worn by a halfback, tailback, fullback, or running back at PSU until the 1972 season when John Cappelletti switched from Defensive Back to Tailback for the Nittany Lions, and from there, the #22 shifted on offense to primarily a running backs number. Since Cappy, 9 different tailbacks, fullbacks and running backs (and a few flankers) would wear this now-retired jersey number.
Here’s the complete RBs list—
John Cappelletti TB (1972-73)
Stan Heath TB (1974)
Tom Barr FB (1980-82)
Sean Redman TB/FB (1987-89)
Brian Milne FB (1993-95)
Kenny Watson TB/WR/SE (1996-2000)
Pete Gilmore TB (2001-02)
Austin Scott TB (2003)—Best remembered as #33
Evan Royster TB (2006-2010)
Akeel Lynch RB (2012-2015)
Nittany Notes:
Quarterbacks wearing numbers in the 20’s is a thing of the long-ago past at PSU… or not…
Sure, the last starting QB to wear a number in this range was #25 Mike Cooper in 1970. Although, 1983-84 PSU starter, Doug Strang, actually wore #24 as a freshman in 1981 before switching to #18 a year later. And, reserve QB Kevin Suhey appeared on the 2006 depth chart as #29 before switching to 13 the next season. And then in 2021, a Penn State quarterback actually played in a game wearing a jersey in the 20’s which hadn’t been seen since Matt Nardolillo last played in 1992 wearing #22.
Mason Stahl (2020-2023) found himself playing quarterback in the 2021 Rutgers win at Beaver Stadium handling mop-up duty behind Christian Veilleux, who himself, stepped in for starter Sean Clifford due to his being ill with the flu and having to leave the game. Stahl, a red-shirt Freshman walk-on, wore #20 that afternoon, the first QB at Penn State to wear that number and play since at least 1950. He rushed 3 times for 22 yards in the 28-0 victory. With the arrival of Drew Allar and Beau Pribula, Stahl shifted to wide receiver in 2022 and switched to #17. He transferred to Sacred Heart in 2024.
Deep Dive: The number 20 was never used during the timeframe where PSU QBs were commonly numbered in that range. Post-1950, the number 20 was not assigned to any player until 1969. The first modern QB to wear it might actually have been reserve Tim Curley who was given that number for the 1973 Blue-White game. Curley would eventually switch to defensive back and wore numbers 41, 27 and 28 in 1974 & 1975. Curley is best remembered as Penn State’s AD from 1993 to 2011.