PSU Fiction (& some Facts)
Penn State’s “Fictional Players”—
Hingle McCringleberry WR
Hingle McCringleberry’s bio reads as follows: 2012 Heisman Trophy winning wide receiver who was drafted #1 overall by the Cleveland Browns but was best known for his days with the “NFL Rhinos”. Famous for the “illegal triple hip pump TD celebration” (“Woooooo… with seven O’s, a tilde, and an umlaut”) which was actually copied as a gag by some real NFL players like Aaron Rodgers when he played with the Green Bay Packers. Hingle is the creation of actor/comedian Keegan-Michael Key (PSU MFA 1996) for the “Key & Peele” TV comedy sketch show that aired on Comedy Central from 2012-15. Key is also well known in Nittany Lion circles for his dead-on impersonation of former Penn State coach James Franklin.
SIDEBAR: On the Dec. 12, 2022 “Manning-cast” coverage of Monday Night Football on ESPN2, Keegan-Michael Key appeared as a guest with Peyton and Eli Manning. So yes, “Chad Powers” (see next section) interviewed Key who told a story about playing the role of Coach James Franklin back in 2019. Key claimed he dressed as Franklin and was photographed with Franklin’s wife and two daughters, and that this photo was actually used on that year’s Franklin family Christmas card.
Chad Powers QB
Chad Powers is the home-schooled, undercover walk-on QB character played by former Ole Miss & New York Giants star Eli Manning. Eli appeared at Penn State’s pre-season training camp in 2022 wearing a wig and heavy makeup trying to “make the team” as a walk-on as part of a stunt for his ESPN+ Plus/Omaha Productions program “Eli’s Places”. Powers, known for his “think fast, run fast” mantra, “ran” a 5.49 second 40-yard dash at PSU’s camp. His hair was said to be reminiscent of his dad’s (Saints QB Archie Manning) in the 1970’s. Eli also took time after the recording of the episode to talk to the Nittany Lions team, and inform real-life Senior walk-on punter, Barney Amor, that he was now on full scholarship (James Franklin was famous for his dramatic scholarship reveals).
Chad Powers t-shirts became a popular clothing item in the days following the airing of the segment on TV. Peyton Manning even wore a Chad Powers t-shirt on their alternate MNF “Manning-cast” program on ESPN2 which he co-hosted with Eli. And Eli had a photo of himself dressed as Powers on the wall behind him in that same show. Stories at the time, suggested that some Powers t-shirt sales provided so-called “NIL money” to PSU walk-on players. Eli Manning also made an appearance on the sidelines at the 2022 Whiteout game vs. Minnesota.
SIDEBAR: The Mannings announced in February 2024 that they were producing a scripted TV series based on the Chad Powers character for Hulu starring actor Glen Powell (he played the “Hangman” pilot character in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022). The series debuted on Sept. 30, 2025, and has no obvious ties to PSU. The new backstory is that Powers has a bad ending to his career at Oregon playing under his real name, “Russ Holliday”, and years later, turns up to walk-on with the fictional South Georgia Catfish disguised as Chad Powers (see photo below).
Jerry Basmati LB/DE
Jerry Basmati played for Penn State (circa 1993) according to the backstory of the NBC-TV comedy/mockumentary “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” starring Tracy Morgan (as Reggie) and Daniel Radcliffe (as Reggie’s documentary producer Arthur Tobin). The Basmati character (played by Craig Robinson of “The Office” fame) surfaced on Season 1/Episode 5 (first aired March 16, 2026) as a continuing rival to Reggie (a former Rutgers & New York Jets star running back) from their college and NFL days. Basmati is recalled in the episode as the victim of the so-called “Crotchdown” from an early 90’s Penn State-Rutgers game where Dinkins vaulted onto Basmati’s shoulders with his crotch pressed into his facemask and rode Basmati backwards into the endzone for the TD. In 2026, Basmati is now a bible-quoting morning TV personality in New Jersey who runs a competing youth football camp. His sole goal is to keep Dinkins out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame because Reggie was kicked out of the NFL for gambling (betting on himself) in the early 2000’s. The Dinkins “documentary storyline” is designed to help rehabilitate Reggie’s image and improve his HOF chances in the face of opposition from Basmati, and other Hall of Fame voters.
SIDEBAR: The Basmati storyline is not the only one with a Penn State flavor in this series. Season 1/Episode 2 (titled “Nittany Means Big”—first aired Monday, Feb. 23, 2026) references a fictional Oct. 15, 1993 game where Rutgers was upsetting #2 Penn State. Part of the premise of this episode was that Reggie, and some other students from Rutgers, attempted to kidnap the “live animal” Nittany Lion mascot ahead of the game only to discover the lion was not “Nit-Tiny” but much larger than expected (hence the episode title). There was even a fake Daily Collegian newspaper used as a prop in one of the scenes. For the record, PSU really did play Rutgers in 1993 (the actual game date was Sept. 25) and the #9 Nittany Lions won BIG, 31-7.
Jake Lassiter LB
Jake Lassiter is a fictional criminal defense attorney in South Florida created by 1969 Penn State grad Paul Levine (a one-time editor & sportswriter for the Daily Collegian, and self-described “occasional spotter” for the PSU football radio announcers). Levine featured the Lassiter character in a series of 15 novels published from 1990 through 2023. Lassiter’s backstory is that he was a walk-on linebacker at Penn State in the late 1960’s. He played for Joe Paterno and later for the Miami Dolphins and coach Don Shula where he “rode the bench”. After his football career ended, Lassiter became a lawyer “who was not known for his winning percentage”. Levine was quoted in the March/April 2023 Penn Stater magazine that Lassiter was Joe’s “problem child” at Penn State. Levine called Lassiter a “linebacker-turned-lawyer who presumes his clients are guilty because it saves time”. The final 3 books of the series focus on Lassiter battling with the effects of CTE from his playing days. Interestingly, Levine has said that the Jake Lassiter character was based in part on 1970’s Miami Dolphins linebacker Nick Buonoconti who became a lawyer in real life and was diagnosed after death with CTE. Note: The 2011 novel simply titled “Lassiter” includes a dedication to THON, “For the Kids” (see book cover below).
SIDEBAR: Paul Levine, who published 24 novels, also wrote scripts for the NBC-TV/CBS-TV drama JAG (1995-2005) which was created by Don Bellisario of PSU’s College of Communications fame. Levine and Bellisario also co-created the short-lived 2002 CBS-TV Supreme Court drama series “First Monday” starring James Garner & Joe Mantegna which was based on Levine’s 1998 book “9 Scorpions”. Levine’s first novel (and first book of the Lassiter series) To Speak for the Dead (1990) was the basis of an NBC-TV Movie in 1995 called “Jake Lassiter: Justice on the Bayou” starring Gerald McRaney.
“Fictional” Penn State Games:
The 1993 Penn State-Rutgers game from NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” is not the only “fictional” PSU football game in TV history…
On the ABC-TV show “Coach” which starred Craig T. Nelson and ran from 1989 to 1997, Penn State collided with the “Screaming Eagles” of then-fictional Minnesota State* in the episode titled “If Keith Jackson calls, I’ll be at my therapist’s” (Season 2/Episode 5—first aired Dec. 19, 1989). That episode closes with Minnesota State Coach Hayden Fox (Nelson) sitting in the press box with real-life ABC college football announcers Keith Jackson and Bob Griese discussing that afternoon’s 31-7 loss to Penn State. Interceptions and special teams breakdowns are cited as what cost the Eagles in that loss to PSU.
Ironically, the same day that the show aired in 1989, the Big Ten announced that an “invitation in principle” had been extended to PSU to join the conference. It became official on June 4, 1990, and Penn State football debuted in the league in 1993.
Also, at that point in time, PSU had not yet played the “real” University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. That would not happen until Sept. 4, 1993, in the season opener—the Nittany Lions first ever Big Ten in-conference game. Although a 1985-86 “home-away” series with Minnesota was actually scheduled at some point in the 1970’s but was never actually played.
Note*—During the timeframe in which “Coach” was on television (1989-97), “Minnesota State” was a name that was not used by any real college. This changed in 1998, when Mankato State was officially renamed Minnesota State.
