While it’s still early in the week, Penn State coach James Franklin was noncommittal on Tuesday afternoon about who might be slotted into the backup quarterback spot behind starter Sean Clifford.
“I know this is not what you guys want, but a similar answer that I’ve given other people,” Franklin said. We haven’t really made any decisions. We had basically a Friday corrections jog-through practice, and kind of a bonus one on Sunday which we were able to do a little bit more, but we still were only in helmets. Tuesday and Wednesday is our workday where we get the best evaluation kind of where we’re at. That determines maybe some moves that we may or may not make.”
It’s hard to know how much of this is coach speak and how much is a true depiction of the situation at hand. Week 1 backup, true freshman Drew Allar earned the nod against Purdue and looked plenty competent in his one drive at the helm of the offense as Clifford deal with issues in the locker room in the second half of Penn State’s eventual win. Certainly nothing that Allar did over the course of that brief appearance was enough to reset the backup competition – if anything it certainly seemed to strengthen his case.
Alternatively, without knowledge of how Penn State’s practices had gone in the lead-up to the season opener it’s hard to think of former backup quarterback Christian Veilleux as anything other than a suitable option as well. While Veilleux might lack the sex appeal of Allar – a former five-star prospect – Veilleux proved plenty capable against Rutgers just a year ago.
Whether or not Franklin is simply trying to keep as many quarterbacks as happy as possible – certainly a reality to consider given Penn State’s near annual departure of quarterbacks to the transfer portal – or that the competition is true that, remains to be seen.
“I mentioned before, it’s a competition week in and week out,” Franklin, who is set to speak to the media again after practice on Wednesday said. “I don’t have that answer for you right now.”
