Penn State Football: Previewing a Quarterback Room with No Shortage of Questions

Penn State football’s 2021 season won’t come down to just one player.

That simplifies things a bit too much in a game that requires so many moving pieces to work together, but it’s hard to imagine a position more important in college football than the quarterback. There might be plenty of things that can make a quarterback’s job harder that he has no control over, but given the time to make a throw nothing can change the game like a quarterback in the zone.

Enter Sean Clifford. As a three-year starter you could make a pretty reasonable argument Clifford is among the most important players in the sport this season. If he plays well, Penn State has a case for putting up a solid season and an outside shot at the Big Ten’s East division.

If he plays poorly or struggles like he did in 2020, the Nittany Lions could find themselves grasping to find the momentum they had in previous years. Pieces of an outstanding 2022 recruiting class could start to falter and all the success James Franklin and his staff built up to in 2016, 2017 and 2019 could feel more like a collection of all-time talent being in the right place at the right time, more so than a program turning a corner toward something consistently among the best in the nation.

And none of this takes into consideration Clifford’s health, each of the past three seasons Penn State’s starting quarterback has left the game either due to poor play or an injury. In turn, the ability to develop the quarterbacks — or rather the insurance policy — behind Clifford becomes nearly as important as Clifford himself.

That was what made Will Levis and Tommy Stevens such important assets for Penn State football. They were players who could be plugged into Penn State’s offense and find a way to operate it with moderate success. Neither was given much freedom to throw the ball, but both proved to be serviceable — enough — in the moment.

In a normal position preview this would be the moment to break down various aspects of the quarterbacks behind Clifford. The fact of the matter, though, is that there’s very little to be said about players who have effectively not seen a single snap. So what does Penn State have behind Clifford? It’s a good question.

Ta’Quan Roberson: A nearly 6-foot tall redshirt sophomore who is the presumed backup. He has one attempted pass in his collegiate career and it netted -1 yard.

Christian Veilleux: A freshman who has yet to step foot on the Beaver Stadium field with more than a coaching staff watching him.

Mason Stahl: A redshirt freshman who was a three-time Developmental Squad Offensive Player of the Week last season.

None of this is meant to be a flippant assessment of how these quarterbacks could play in the future or this season given the opportunity to showcase their skills. However, the fact of the matter is the Nittany Lions will have to wait and see what they get from Clifford, and more or less pray they don’t have to find out what they have in the rest of quarterback room.

Because if they do, they might have bigger problems on their hands than just one strange 4-5 season and a lot of hopes that soon-to-be Nittany Lion Drew Allar can answer a few of their prayers.