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Penn State Football: Roberson Latest In Long Line Of Backups Thrust Into Bigger Role

It goes all the way back to the 2015 season as Christian Hackenberg left the game with an injury during the TaxSlayer Bowl and Trace McSorley took the field in his place. From that moment on a lineage of backup quarterbacks shaping the future of Penn State football began to unfold.

If you look at Penn State’s 2018 roster the quarterback room is in many ways quite remarkable. There was Trace McSorley, in the final stages of his long illustrious career. There was Tommy Stevens, who many believed would be the next in line. There was Will Levis, a strong arm but an unproven talent.

And there was Sean Clifford.

Stevens – coming off an injury of his own – would transfer before the competition ever got underway in 2019 and would eventually end up at Mississippi State with former Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead. And just like that the once presumed starting quarterback for Penn State’s upcoming season was no more.

So in steps Clifford.

Two years later it was Levis’ turn to transfer, this time seeing the writing on the wall as Clifford entered his third year as a starter with technically a fourth year still on the table. Levis is now starting at Kentucky as the Wildcats put together a respectable season in the SEC.

All told that 2018 roster had four quarterbacks of note, two who would put together double-digit win seasons at Penn State, and two more who would start in the SEC.

All of these things being true, it put the plans of what Penn State’s quarterback room could have looked like on a very different course. In 2021 Will Levis was supposed to be the backup, in 2019 either Clifford or Stevens could have been the backup. Don’t even begin to think about once Penn State commit turned Georgia Bulldog turned Ohio State Buckeye turned Chicago Bear Justin Fields.

Instead of what may have been the Nittany Lions sit days out from a meeting against Illinois with Ta’Quan Roberson the probable starter and only two other legitimate quarterback options behind him – neither of whom having played any meaningful football at Penn State.

“I think to your point we’ve had two guys in our program that we had very clear discussions about how things were going to play out and how they were going to be evaluated,” Franklin said on Tuesday about Stevens and Levis. “When you’re looking at going into the transfer portal and possibly bringing guys in, most guys want to come in and be guaranteed the starting job depending on where they’re at and in their careers and why they’re leaving.”

That was the challenge Penn State faced this offseason – finding someone to sit behind Clifford – as the Nittany Lions tried to make up for the fact Penn State’s quarterback room is just five players deep but with only three reasonable options to ever take meaningful snaps. In a matter of weeks Roberson went from the third-string option to one injury away from a probable starter.

And that injury has arrived.

In turn Franklin and his staff spent no small amount of the offseason scouring the transfer portal for options, but the challenge is that the portal is full of players who want to play, not players who want to sit.

“You’re talking about where your program is, what your situation is. Did your starter just graduate? That makes it a very attractive transfer portal destination. Do you have a returning starter that they’re going to compete with? And then also the impact on your current roster, as well as the impact on recruiting. So you kind of got to balance all of that and make sure that that, that you’re in a good situation, and trying to be as upfront as you possibly can and transparent.”

“So for us that’s the challenge right, how to balance all of that and and do what’s right for Penn State but also do what’s right and be fair to these to these young men.”

According to Franklin he and his staff did bring in a few transfer portal options to campus to workout and throw balls to try and assess their choices moving forward. As has become obvious at this point in the year, none of those options ended up at Penn State leaving the Nittany Lions in the position that they find themselves in now.

But then again with Ohio product Drew Allar on the horizon in 2022 – assuming Clifford opts not to return – the future does appear bright.

That said, the challenges of developing and holding onto quality backup options remains. Because one coach’s good backup quarterback is another coach’s starter.

And judging by the past, it might be the backup’s, backup who ends up the eventual starter.