One of the top priorities of any practice, scrimmage, or walkthrough for every college football team is to end the event without losing any players due to injury. Now that the Penn State football team is in its spring practice sessions, there is always a risk of this unfortunate event occurring. However, sources at On3 have confirmed that redshirt freshman QB Jaxon Smolik has suffered an injury and will be out indefinitely.
Penn State football QB out indefinitely due to injury per reports
Jaxon Smolik was somewhat of a surprise commitment to the Nittany Lions 2023 recruiting class. A native of Van Meter, Iowa, Smolik was originally committed to Tulane before flipping his commitment to Penn State football. During the 2023 season, we saw most of his reps come during the Blue-White game, where he was shaky at times.
However, he took a massive step forward this past summer, and during fall camp ahead of the 2023 season. James Franklin called Smolik the “surprise of fall camp.” But Friday afternoon, a report provided by Ryan Synder of Blue White Illustrated states that Smolik will be out indefinitely due to an undisclosed injury.
Reviewing the Nittany Lions QB room
Although losing Jaxon Smolik might not impact the results on the field in 2024, depth is always an area of concern at each position. Drew Allar will continue in his role as the starting quarterback and Beau Pribula will be directly behind him.
Now, with Smolik out for the foreseeable future, the third quarterback on the depth chart will be true freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer. A fellow Ohio native, the four-star Grunkemeyer shares the same quarterback trainer in Brad Maendler as Drew Allar.
James Franklin highlighted Grunkmeyer’s progress as recently as this week, noting that the true freshman quarterback has “flashed” in his first few weeks on campus. Grunkemeyer will now have accelerated reps during spring practices and the Blue-White game on April 13, and his development will be increasingly important for Penn State football this fall.
*Note: This is a breaking news story, and the information included is subject to change.
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