The greatest challenge any head coach faces on a daily basis is convincing all of his quarterbacks that they are equally important. That in order for their program to succeed, each and every quarterback on the roster will need to stay put, wait their turn and then maybe one day they will be the guy.
This. of course, is largely untrue.
Because at the end of the day most quarterbacks will never see the field. Penn State has had three starting quarterbacks since the 2014 season and has seen at least three noteworthy — and largely inevitable — quarterback transfers over that time as well, with even more simply phasing out of the program. It is a position where the greatest asset a player can bring to the table if he isn’t the starter is simply existing on the roster.
Take again, for example, Penn State’s own roster over the last several seasons. Every year since 2018, Penn State’s starting quarterback has been injured to the point of having to be removed from the game or to the point of being unable to start the next game. In fact, in two of Penn State’s four bowl losses under James Franklin, the starting quarterback has been injured during the game and the backup has had to play in his stead.
So therein lies the challenge: convincing players you don’t need today to stay for tomorrow. Either because someone might get hurt, or because one day down the road they might start. In the cases of Tommy Stevens and Will Levis, two promising backup options turned eventual SEC starters, they were no longer interested in waiting.
“That position is problematic across the country,” Franklin said last week. “I still think there’s a lot of value in having some patience in developing that position, but that’s not really a word in college football right now.”
Fortunately for Penn State at this particular moment in time, the roster shakes out somewhat favorably, with Sean Clifford taking on his fourth year as the starter, redshirt freshman Christian Veilleux the probable backup and true freshmen Beau Pribula and five-star talent Drew Allar waiting in the wings as well. Does that mean they will all be on the roster in coming years? Time will tell, but for now there are plenty of options, even if there might also be plenty of fluidity.
“The old days of a freshman coming in and having to pay his dues and those things are different,” Franklin said. “You’d better be monitoring your roster. You’d better be talking to the parents. You’d better be talking to the high school coaches, all those things. It’s where consistency on your staff is important.”
Following spring practice, the distribution of wealth certainly leaned heavily in the favor of experience and it stands to reason that will be the same come the fall. In turn, fans — much like Pribula and Allar — will have to wait to see what the future holds.
Spring practice snap counts:
- Sean Clifford: 201
- Christian Veilleux: 183
- Drew Allar: 134
- Beau Pribula: 132
“Don’t overread into the two-rep difference, which I know somebody will make a big deal out of,” Franklin said, of the gap between Pribula and Allar. “But I thought that was good.”
And then there is always the future, with 2023 verbal commitment Marcus Stokes landing an invitation to the Elite 11 finals. Another quarterback for another day.
