Penn State Seeks Leadership, Particularly From Its Quarterbacks

Pribula brings an edge of competitiveness that Yurcich loves, while Franklin has called early enrollee Jaxon Smolik the "steal" of the 2023 recruiting class. But none has even finished his freshman year of college, giving Penn State one of the youngest rooms in the country.

Meanwhile, the Lions must replace a four-year captain in Sean Clifford who took his mentor role seriously last year. Franklin called leadership development one of his biggest offseason goals for this team. It's even more essential at quarterback.

"I thought Sean did a great job with that," Franklin said. "So for us, I don’t want [Allar and Pribula] to go from 0 to 100. Just kind of work into that role and take responsibility and have a plan and be intentional like everything else we do. But I think Drew and Beau are ready for that."

Allar begins Penn State's offseason as the starter, though Pribula certainly will challenge. But the Lions are notably undersized on experience, though Franklin said another factor will help offset that.

"In a perfect world you’d love to have a little bit more experience and a little bit more age in that room," Franklin said, "but at the end of the day it’s about talent. And I think we’re talented in that room."

Which prompted another question about the NCAA Transfer Portal. Penn State has made limited moves there, adding a receiver (Malik McClain) and cornerback (Storm Duck) who drew notice on the first day of winter workouts. Penn State has received a commitment from former Kent State receiver Dante Cephas, who will enroll later.

Though he's open to welcoming a transfer quarterback, Franklin understands the reality. The room has three recruited freshmen already in-house, which doesn't bode for much immediate playing time. However, the right quarterback might see an opportunity to lend experience while understanding his place on the roster.

"I think the challenge of the transfer portal is, I think you can do it and I think there are some options that we can look at and we’re still open to," Franklin said. "But I wouldn’t say, based on how that room looks, that maybe it’s attractive to a lot of the quarterbacks out there that we would want to bring in. So we’ll see how that thing plays out, but you never know. We’d be open at obviously every single position to try to bring some guys in."

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