As Penn State rolls into the fifth week of the season, it’s hard to deny that the Nittany Lions have gone to the depth chart sooner than in recent years as coach James Franklin looks to grow roster depth across the board. The benefits of this are somewhat self-evident: increased program depth decreases the drop-off in moments when injuries or substitutions occur. The best teams in college football are the ones who not only have superior starters but also great players waiting in the wings.
Although oftentimes that development can happen in relative silence. People tend not to really notice the changing rotation of linebackers, defensive linemen, defensive backs, receivers, running backs and offensive linemen at any given moment. Sure, maybe someone makes a play and you notice, but fans tend not to see every single time when a defensive tackle switches.
But quarterback, it’s hard to ignore that.
In 2022, it has also been hard to ignore how much true freshman quarterback Drew Allar has played. Of course, his appearance against Purdue was a matter of Sean Clifford attending to cramping, but in each of Penn State’s following three games Allar has seen the field. And he has seen the field just a bit earlier than his predecessors Will Levis and Tommy Stevens did.
There are a lot of variables any given year that influence quarterback rotations during any given game. So in many respects it’s hard to compare seasons and careers. All the same consider the following: In his three seasons at Penn State, Tommy Stevens threw just 41 passes. In his two years on campus, Will Levis threw 30 passes in games that he wasn’t called on to start or play in relief of Clifford [on those occasions he passed 72 times.]
As for Allar, he has passed 19 times through four games. Or rather, 46% of Stevens’s career passes, and 63% of Levis’ during games that Levis wasn’t the starter or playing in injury relief.
It might seem like garbage time, but it’s also the difference between a backup quarterback being truly ready for when Sean Clifford goes down against Iowa, and losing that game slowly but surely. Overall, Penn State’s backup quarterback has had to start or take meaningful snaps in each of the past five years. The better that quarterback is, the better off Penn State is. All of that information plays into Allar’s own time on the field.
“We’re getting guys in the game a little bit earlier than maybe we had in the past and that is really putting a priority on creating depth,” Franklin said on Tuesday. “That is based on previous experiences. That is what I think we need to do in 2022 with making sure that it’s many guys in the locker room feel like they’re getting opportunities. It’s all of that, you know, but it’s a fine line because everybody’s critiquing me — that guy should get in the game earlier. But then you guys all watch college football, and there’s things that come up every Saturday where people felt like the game was over, and it wasn’t. So that’s where it’s not necessarily science. It’s a little bit of an art in being able to navigate that.”
It gets into the department of splitting hairs in somewhat unquantifiable ways, but Penn State has gone to Allar slightly earlier than it ever went to Levis or Stevens. Some of this has to do with situations that come up during any given game. For example, as Penn State beat up on Georgia State in 2017, winning to the tune of 56-0, Stevens didn’t see the field until late in the third quarter. Each of the past three games Allar has been inserted during far closer contests, especially last week as Penn State beat Central Michigan 33-14 with Allar entering the fray with Penn State ahead by two scores.
The motivation behind that is a little bit of everything. In the case of Allar, the situation is both present and forward thinking. If Penn State simply wanted an experienced quarterback ready to go it could lean on last season’s backup in Christian Veilleux, who started and played last year on more than one occasion. For Allar, there’s not only some degree of keeping the highly touted prospect happy, but also a look toward the future. Every snap he takes this year a step toward even better play in 2022 as the presumed starter.
But, of course, Penn State’s debacle at Iowa last season doesn’t hurt the matter any either. Not to mention getting depth at other positions less noticeable on any given snap.
“It’s all of that. I think to your point, last year I thought we were playing really good football and then we had some injuries at key positions and we want to make sure that we had more depth this year, really across the board,” Franklin said. “I think linebacker … it’s another really good example that not a whole lot of people have been talking about. We were young at linebacker and I mean you think about the amount of reps that [lists various linebackers]. So it’s really across the board and we’re trying to do it and how the games played out has helped with that too.
“… This is why although I want to lead the country in scoring defense. It’s not worth an unfortunate targeting penalty and now we lose a guy for the [first] half or it’s not worth an unfortunate sprained ankle to one of our guys that really didn’t need to be in the game but it’s not always perfect like that, especially when you’re on the road and you have [fewer] options for guys to put in the game in terms of what you’re able to travel.”
So if it seems like Allar and company are getting in a bit sooner than usual, that’s not by mistake. As for the why, it’s a little bit of the past, present and future playing a part in the decision.
