Penn State QB Commit Peyton Falzone Changes Course, Shifts to Auburn

Falzone made the Pennsylvania Class 6A all-state team as a junior at Nazareth High School. He threw for 2,135 yards and 23 touchdowns last season, adding eight rushing touchdowns and 697 yards. As a sophomore, Falzone threw for 2,427 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Since January, Falzone has been training with Ohio-based quarterbacks coach Brad Maendler at the recommendation of several college coaches, including Penn State's James Franklin. Maendler also works with Penn State quarterbacks Drew Allar and Ethan Grunkemeyer. In making weekly trips to Ohio from eastern Pennsylvania, Falzone sought to improved his footwork, throwing mechanics and accuracy in drills with Maendler.

"When I first met him in January, I knew right away we needed to smooth out his throwing motion, and that not everything needed to be 100 miles an hour," Maendler said in a spring interview. "That's one of the curses of kids who have natural velocity; every throw is viewed as needing to be 100 miles an hour. And so we've really worked on smoothing out that stroke, making it more efficient.

"The ball is actually getting out faster, but he's not trying as hard. We've got him focusing on generating power so the arm moves more smoothly, more surgically. ... He's learning how to throw with different speeds and different trajectories to be consistently accurate. We always want to get the ball on the face and chest area [of a receiver]. That's our priority, and he has improved so much there. He just looks really smooth and is putting the ball in great spots, much more than he was when we were first getting together in January."

Maendler also said that he was "super-excited" for Falzone when the quarterback committed to Penn State.

"He told me that he's been going to games there all his life," Maendler said. "It's close for his family, and obviously they're very tight-knit. He also really believes that [Penn State's] Danny O'Brien is the kind of quarterbacks coach who's going to develop him to be the very best player that he can be. And I happen to agree with that very strongly."

Penn State's 2026 class now has one quarterback committed. Falzone was the second quarterback to commit, doing so after Troy Huhn, a 4-star prospect from California who recently competed in the Elite 11 Finals. Following Falzone's decision, Penn State has 20 players in its 2026 class, which now ranks ninth nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite.