As expected, Penn State will go with longtime starting quarterback Sean Clifford on Thursday against Purdue, but in a bit of a surprise twist, true freshman Drew Allar will slot into the No. 2 spot behind Clifford, according to coach James Franklin.
“Drew Allar is our backup quarterback for week one,” Franklin said on Monday. “That’s not a set-in-stone thing for the entire year. That’ll continue to be a competition and fluid but [Allar] is the backup quarterback.”
Monday’s news comes as a slight surprise with returning backup Christian Veilleux still on the roster. Veilleux guided Penn State to an eventual win over Rutgers in 2021 following a flu bug that knocked Clifford out of the contest early and proved to be plenty competent in the role. While it remains to be seen how fluid the situation truly turns out to be, Allar beating out Veilleux in the early stages of the season brings with it plenty of intrigue for the future of the program as a former five-star prospect begins his move up the depth chart.
Although, as Franklin noted on Monday, it wasn’t too long ago that Veilleux himself was the No. 3 quarterback in 2021, moving up the depth chart following struggles by then backup Ta’Quan Roberson, who played for the Nittany Lions against Iowa after a first half injury to Clifford. Franklin subsequently noted that who starts as No. 2 might not finish the season that way.
Nevertheless, the decision is a noteworthy one.
“When we take all of the information, coaches’ opinion based on their gut and experience… data from everything that we keep track of, we feel like Drew has earned that that opportunity in week one,” Franklin added. “[Veilleux] was the third string quarterback last year and ended up being a second team quarterback and came in and did a great job for us. But taking everything into consideration, the coaching staff felt like this was the right decision. Obviously they’re tough conversations to have and we sat down with everybody and did it with each one of the quarterbacks one on one and communicated how and why.”
While it may end up not mattering who Penn State’s backup quarterback is, every year since 2018 the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback has either been benched or knocked out of the game at least once over the course of the year. In turn, the role of Penn State’s backup has only increased in importance. As far as fans already looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, Allar getting the nod at No. 2 spot means an uptick in reps taken with the first team during practice. As Franklin noted following the conclusion of spring practice earlier this year, then-No. 2 quarterback Veilleux had effectively 50 more snaps than Allar did over the same period — invaluable moments for a young quarterback. That gap could potentially be even more as reps become even more scarce during the season.
Spring practice snap counts:
- Sean Clifford: 201
- Christian Veilleux: 183
- Drew Allar: 134
- Beau Pribula: 132
“It’s been really, really easy as a vet QB to just be able to share my insights,” Clifford said on Monday. “Be able to show them everything that I’ve learned over the past few years and now getting into game prep, be able to truly dive into what it looks like and how I operate and how I get prepared for the game so that way I can go in as confident as ever.
“I think that’s the the main key and I think that honestly, they’ve done just a fantastic job of opening their ears and listening, asking a bunch of questions whenever they have one, not being afraid to ask and and just being, you know, really receptive to both praise and criticism. I think that we have a room that is is very loving of each other, want everybody to succeed and at the same time have that competition, which is really good. So I think that’s one of my favorite rooms so far. And just lots of talent. So really excited moving forward with them.”
