Who's Penn State QB2 for Week 2 Vs. Ohio?
Penn State might have an opportunity to get one or more of its backup quarterbacks some playing time in its home-opener Saturday against Ohio. In fact, Lions coach James Franklin said he's considering one of those quarterbacks for more than a potential fourth-quarter, close-out role.
But who?
Franklin said Tuesday that his staff has not decided whether Drew Allar, Christian Veilleux or Beau Pribula will serve as Sean Clifford's No. 2 quarterback against Ohio.
Unlike last week, when he announced Allar as the backup, Franklin deferred to the competition ahead of Penn State's first 2022 game at Beaver Stadium. Allar, a true freshman, substituted for Clifford during a third-quarter series against Purdue, where Franklin said Clifford had sustained cramps.
Allar went 2 for 4 passing and threw a lovely ball that was dropped, heralding plenty of promise for the 5-star recruit who was among the headliners of Penn State's 2022 recruiting class. Allar began warming up later in the game (Clifford sustained more cramping symptoms, Franklin said) but did not enter.
Franklin said that his staff has discussed playing one of the young quarterbacks in an early series. But Franklin kept that quarterback's identity close Tuesday before the team's first true game-week practice.
"We haven't really made any decisions [on the No. 2 quarterback for this week]," Franklin said. "We had basically a Friday corrections, jog-through practice and a bonus one on Sunday. ... Tuesday and Wednesday are our workdays, where we get the best evaluation of where we're at, and that determines maybe some moves that we may or not make. But like I mentioned before, it's a competition week in and week out."
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Franklin has said through the preseason, and reiterated the point Tuesday, that he wants to generate more experienced depth across the board, notably at quarterback. But he also wants to be "strategic" about it.
"We've had discussions about that," Franklin said when asked specifically about playing a young quarterback earlier in the game. "Obviously we want to make sure that we have depth throughout our entire program at every position. Obviously, I think the last two years that had a major factor in how our seasons went.
"So [we're] being very strategic and working hard to find ways to get guys on the field and gain that experience, not only in practice and our developmental scrimmages but also out there in Beaver Stadium. In theory, I think what we’ve tried to do is hopefully play in a way in some games that allows you to get guys on the field. But it doesn’t always play out that way.
"... "It's something we're looking at," Franklin concluded. "We'll see how it plays out."
Penn State hosts Ohio at noon Saturday. ABC will televise.
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