Penn State's Quarterbacks Room Undergoes a Complete Overhaul

Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell will rebuild the position through the transfer portal.

Penn State quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki coach up quarterbacks Ethan Grunkemeyer, Drew Allar, Bekkem Kritza and Jaxon Smolik during practice outside Holuba Hall. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State’s quarterback room will look completely different under head coach Matt Campbell in 2026. Drew Allar is headed to the NFL and, when the transfer portal officially opened Jan. 2, three Nittany Lions quarterbacks entered, including second-half starter Ethan Grunkemeyer. 

Freshman Bekkem Kritza preceded Grunkemeyer in the portal, and redshirt sophomore Jaxon Smolik followed. As a result, Jack Lambert, a redshirt sophomore walk-on, is the Nittany Lions’ only returning quarterback. 

That means Campbell will do something that Penn State typically hasn’t at quarterback: use the transfer portal. The Nittany Lions never brought in a transfer quarterback under former coach James Franklin, but to build back the room, Campbell has to. 

Major turnover in Penn State's quarterbacks room

Penn State quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki coach up quarterbacks Ethan Grunkemeyer, Drew Allar, Bekkem Kritza and Jaxon Smolik during practice outside Holuba Hall. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State began the 2025 season with four scholarship quarterbacks, none of whom will is likely to be on the 2026 roster. The room changed immediately against Northwestern, when Allar sustained a season-ending ankle injury.

Grunkemeyer took over the following week at Iowa, blossoming to win four straight games to finish the season and putting on his best performance of the season in the Pinstripe Bowl. Despite positive initial conversations with Campbell, Grunkemeyer was in the portal less than a week later.

Smolik was elevated to the backup role when Grunkemeyer took over as the starter but was injured during Penn State’s loss to Iowa and missed the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Kritza did not make any appearances this season, having been listed as out for nine games.

For the last two regular-season games, Grunkemeyer was the only healthy scholarship quarterback on Penn State's roster. That prompted the Nittany Lions to make fifth-year wide receiver Liam Clifford their No. 2 quarterback. Grunkemeyer took nearly every quarterback snap over the final six games.

Evolving with college football

Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell celebrates with quarterback Rocco Becht after defeating the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

When Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft started the coaching search in October, he wanted someone capable of adapting with college football. Under Franklin, Penn State made limited use of the portal and never at quarterback. Franklin started four mult-year quarterbacks in 12 years, all of whom were recruited to play at Penn State. 

Campbell operated from a similar position in 10 years as Iowa State’s head coach, though he didn’t necessarily have the means to use the portal for top prospects. He relied on developing players, like Kyle Kempt, who went from walk-on to becoming the only Iowa State quarterback to beat two top-five teams.

“It’s been the difference-maker, from fourth-string walk-on Kyle Kempt that beat Baker Mayfield and No. 2 Oklahoma in 2017 and all of the sudden wins eight games and he never started a game in his career,” Campbell said. “But we got him there.” 

Campbell is also responsible for developing Brock Purdy, the “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2022 NFL Draft who is on the brink of another NFL playoff run with the San Francisco 49ers. While that philosophy isn’t changing at Penn State, Campbell now has more resources available to him to bring in more talent.

Finding Penn State’s next starting quarterback won’t be difficult with Rocco Becht, already in the portal, expected to follow Campbell to Happy Valley. The quarterback-head coach relationship is extremely important to Campbell, so having Becht as his fourth-year starter will ease the transition for both. 

“The head coach and the quarterback better be linked at the hip,” Campbell said. “The quarterback and the head coach get all the blame and they probably get all the credit when on both sides of it, that’s not always true. But they better be linked at the hip, because I feel like the quarterback has got to have the leadership ability, the toughness and the grit to control the locker room.”

While Becht is the likely starter, Campbell will also have to search for at least one more scholarship quarterback from the portal. Beau Pribula is back in the portal after spending one year with Missouri, but it is unlikely he would return to Penn State. He is currently expected to visit Virginia Tech (coached by Franklin) and Georgia Tech, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. 

NEW: Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are the top two schools to watch for Missouri transfer QB Beau Pribula, @PeteNakos reports👀

Intel: https://t.co/YGtyDcWgSe https://t.co/mGWqV4WBAK pic.twitter.com/8Gwrb4KQeY

— On3 (@On3sports) January 2, 2026

A few days after Campbell was announced as Penn State’s head coach, quarterback Peyton Falzone became one of two players who officially signed with the Nittany Lions’ 2026 recruiting class. The incoming freshman is someone Campbell can look to develop as eligibility runs on the transfer portal pickups. 

Falzone’s recruiting journey wasn’t easy, but interim head coach Terry Smith and assistant quarterbacks coach Trace McSorley played instrumental roles in getting the 4-star prospect from Pennsylvania to sign. 

“Penn State is still Penn State,” Tom Falzone, Peyton’s father and coach at Nazareth High, said at his signing ceremony. “It’s going to be OK. Coach Smith said to him, he said, ‘Either way, I want to stay. I want to be around this thing because I love this university and the guys around here love this university,’ And Peyton does. He always has. We are just so blessed to be in the situation we’re in.”

Penn State’s offense will also have significant coaching changes. Quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien followed Franklin to Virginia Tech, and Jake Waters, who spent six seasons on Campbell’s Iowa State staff, will take over. McSorley is expected to remain the assistant quarterbacks coach. 

Regardless of how each player gets to Penn State, character is still one of the defining attributes Campbell seeks — especially from his quarterbacks. 

“Everybody likes fast, everybody likes arm strength, but those things don’t win,” Campbell said. “What wins is grit, toughness, character and the ability to lead others around. The locker room always knows who the quarterback should be.”

What happens next for Penn State? Stay on top of all the Nittany Lions news by subscribing to the Penn State on SI Daily Digest. The newsletter is your free daily window into Penn State sports.