Penn State safety Jonathan Sutherland gets unique honor

Penn State safety Jonathan Sutherland is scheduled to make history Saturday in his team’s season-opening road game against Indiana.

He’ll be the first player in school history to wear No. 0 on his jersey.

His teammates voted to allow him this unique designation.

“It’s a blessing,” Sutherland said in a video conference Wednesday. “It’s an honor. There’s definitely many guys that are qualified on the team for it. I just appreciate the support in my teammates ultimately choosing me. It’s a great honor, and I’m really appreciative of it.

“I love my teammates. I try to work hard every single day and do the best. Be a support for them. They likewise do the same for me. Obviously, hearing that, it’s just a great honor just to be looked up to by my teammates.”

Sutherland found out he would wear No. 0 on Oct. 17.

“Honestly, it was just like literally after practice this past Saturday,” Sutherland said. “It was kind of like a surprise almost. It was a surprise to me. They kind of got us all pretty much surprised. We didn’t know when they were announcing it.”

Coach James Franklin indicated several players had lobbied to wear No. 0, but there were few protests when it was granted to Sutherland.

“They were all texting me and calling me about why they should have No. 0,” Franklin said. “After the announcement was made and Sutherland got No. 0, all those guys were like, ‘You know, I’m disappointed, but I get it. It’s Sutherland, it’s hard to argue with him.’ ”

Sutherland will serve as a captain for the second consecutive season. Appearing in 13 games last season, Sutherland had 11 solo tackles and 12 assisted tackles while primarily working on special teams.

“Obviously, being selected for the second year, it’s just an honor,” Sutherland said. “A blessing. It’s very humbling to me. I appreciate that so much from my coach and my teammates. I just try to lead by example. The way I approach everything on and off the field, I try to lead by example.”

Sutherland will share captain duties with linebacker Jesse Luketa. They are natives of Ottawa.

“You know it’s a big deal,” Sutherland said. “Especially for Jessie and I. We come from a small city in Canada. We just try to give the most motivation to players back home. Continue with hard work and continue to pursue you goals. You can achieve anything. It’s a great blessing coming from where Jessie and I came from.”

Sutherland’s introduction to football wasn’t all that different from his American teammates.

“It was honestly just a bunch of my friends in school that were playing football,” said Sutherland, who attended Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va. “That’s how I kind of got introduced to it. Playing on the playground and then transitioning to Pop Warner. It works kind of similar to how it works here. You pretty much start at the age of six then each level, it keeps going up.”

The presence of Sutherland and Luketa have made Penn State a favorite across the border.

“It’s brought a lot of light to Penn State. Obviously, Penn State is pretty much known like globally. People weren’t strangers to Penn State, but obviously Jesse and I and (quarterback recruit Christian Veilleux, a native of Ottawa, have) brought a lot more light to the program and everything like that.”