The Penn State football player’s last name haunts him.
Tyler Elsdon could have changed it, long ago. Why wouldn’t he? “Elsdon” was given to him by his biological parents who, he says, gave him away as a toddler. That’s how he ended up in foster care, how he met his adoptive mother and father who raised him, and how he learned what football could do for him.
He kept his last name as he grew into a teenager and truly understood the nuances of what made him feel so differently from his friends − why caseworkers would regularly come to his home, why his brothers didn’t look like him, why an unknowing constantly gnawed at him.
He kept that name, upon arriving at Penn State.
He’s kept it, still, after making his adoption legal five years ago with Nea and John Griffin, the ones who provided him a secure home life, after all.
Tyler David Elsdon is 23 now and finishing his senior season at linebacker with these 10-1 Nittany Lions, determined yet to improve and earn more time on the field − and to allow his past to keep driving him.
His name still haunts him. And yet it’s come to inspire, as well.
“I look at it, and I always think of the bad,” he said during an interview before this season. “I think of the abandonment. I think of all the challenges and everything ‘Elsdon’ brings with it, in my eyes.
“So, I figure if I keep building, if I keep progressing in my life, I’ll be able to change that connotation. I’ll be able to look at ‘Elsdon’ and be proud of this.”
He paused for a few moments before continuing.
“I do know that my kids who will carry my last name one day will be able to look at me with a positive connotation, and they won’t feel the negative sides of it. That’s my goal. I want to be the best man I can be so in the future I can show people what ‘Elsdon’ is … who Tyler Elsdon is.”
Tyler Elsdon: Shaping his Penn State football life as a child
He was given a new life when he was 2 years old.
The Griffins took him in in Frackville, Pa., about 60 miles northeast of Harrisburg. He was another part of their life’s mission. Kids, some needing a place to stay for a few days or weeks or months, continually drifted in and out of the home. Elsdon’s two adoptive brothers − one two years older, the other six months younger − started as fosters there, too.
His adoptive father, who worked long shifts in an aluminum mill, was a longtime youth football coach. The field was just up the street from their home. Elsdon said he began helping as a water boy there when he was 3 or 4 and started playing the game shortly after. Teammates and friends multiplied each year.
“I just knew at a young age I was where I needed to be,” he said of football and family.
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And yet it was a difficult divide to traverse. He said he still had contact with his birth parents until he was 8 or 9 years old, about the time his biological father died. Since, he’s stayed connected only to a biological cousin and through infrequent conversations with siblings he never truly got to know.
Rather, he said he tried to focus on his gratefulness for his new family and for his football opportunities. He was the sixth-grader who found his way into the varsity weight room to work out with the juniors and seniors. The one who gradually developed into a hometown star at North Schuylkill High where he earned all-state honors as a junior, was a team captain as a senior.
There, he became known for his hard work, toughness and productivity more than elite speed, size and lofty projections. He simply played every moment possible, sometimes losing 10 to 15 pounds during a game, said his coach, Wally Hall.
“He’s a great locker room guy, number one. He wants to win, there’s nothing individual about him,” Hall said.
Elsdon was recruited hardest by Ivy League schools and service academies until the final months before his senior year. When Penn State coaches finally offered a scholarship he said, ‘Yes,’ on the spot. It was part of everything he ever wanted.
Next was making his adoption official after enrolling in college and turning 18.
He said it all made him a better football player.
“It’s why I play the game the way I do, why I am the way I am in the locker room. It’s truly because of the way I was raised and had a true understanding of family, and that family doesn’t have to be by blood, doesn’t have to be biological. It’s the people who sacrifice for you, who care for you and you are willing to fight for.
“That’s probably the biggest takeaway of my childhood: If you give to people and they give back to you that creates a special bond and if you struggle together the chemistry is kind of unbreakable. That’s why football’s so important to me.”
Tyler Elsdon: marksman, ‘servant leader’ at Linebacker U.
Elsdon stepped into Penn State’s famed linebacker position when needed most, primarily early in his career. When teammates opted out of the Outback Bowl following the 2021 season the redshirt freshman played much of the game, registering a career-best six tackles, five solo.
He started all 13 games at middle linebacker the following season when the Lions won their final five, including the Rose Bowl over Utah.
He’s been mostly limited to backup and special teams roles, though, ever since. He’s battled injuries and has played behind top-tier talents like Abdul Carter, Kobe King and Tony Rojas.
Elsdon said he’s prided himself on being there for his teammates in any way possible − while carving out his own path.
He’s an avid hunter and target shooter. He said he seriously considered joining the military before Penn State and is still looking at a law enforcement career.
He said he’s dedicated to helping his Lions as they drive toward the College Football Playoff, even if his on-field role has diminished.
“He’s just an old-school, gritty guy. If he weren’t playing football he’d be serving his country. He’s a servant leader,” said former Nittany Lion lineman and roommate, Aneas Hawkins. “Anything to help the betterment of the unit win.
“He really is a warrior, he’s not timid, he has no fear. He’s really down for anything that may happen on the field at any time. Not afraid of it. If the world were to end in a week, to help keep me and my family safe, I’d call Tyler Elsdon.”
He’s determined to give back to those who believed in him. He’s helped foster care kids by raising money to buy them Christmas gifts. He said he’d like to start a non-profit foundation one day to help those without parental and family care.
Many kids don’t have the stability he was fortunate to find.
“Some people are in foster care until 18 and then leave on their own. Nobody to turn to, to look out for them. They don’t go to college, don’t have a family. Have to figure it out, and for a lot of them, it doesn’t end well.
“I understand them. I want to support these people as much as possible.”
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Tyler Elsdon’s Penn State football story: foster care to the Big Ten
