James Franklin expects Beau Pribula to help Penn State during 2023 season

Beau Pribula gave Penn State fans a little taste of what he can do on the football field in a 38-15 win over West Virginia.

Head coach James Franklin expects this to continue throughout the season. While Drew Allar is the starting quarterback, and looked good in that spot, Pribula might be too good to keep off the field in situations.

Franklin talked about Pribula and what envisioned for the young quarterback coming in.

“And then with Drew, I think you guys got a chance to see tonight, and really our coaching staff got to see tonight, what I anticipated we’d see from Beau,” Franklin said postgame. “Beau has a lot of traits that aren’t going to show up in a traditional practice. When I went to watch him play in high school, it was one of the more impressive things to watch.

“Just his poise and ability to spread the ball around, so we got confidence in those two guys. It’s something to build on. There’s going to be a different style. He’s still able to throw the ball and be successful.”

Franklin added that Pribula would get a chance to showcase those skills this year and there’d be no reason to wait.

“We didn’t ask him to do that in this game based on what school it was and where the ball was,” Franklin said. “But, there are some things that are going to show up in Beau’s game that he’s going to help us this year.”

Pribula threw just one pass and completed it for seven yards. But he carried the ball three times for 18 yards and a score.

As a member of the Class of 2022, Pribula was a three-star recruit out of York (Pa.) Central York, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 13 overall prospect in the state, the No. 26 quarterback in the class and the No. 465 overall prospect in the class.

It was hard for Franklin to talk about the offense and not include Pribula’s impact. He was proud of all of his play makers.

“Drew was able to execute the cover zero plan and, except for one, we had this length of KeAndre (Lambert-Smith) that he got pressure to release the ground and kind of threw it low and slightly behind him,” Franklin said. “If that thing’s out in front, KeAndre walks into from seventy, sixty, or whatever that was, you know, besides that, I thought he managed it really well. 

“Beau did the same thing. We’re trying to run  the ball at the end of the game there, again, you’re gonna go cover zero, you’re forcing us to throw the ball and check for cover zero plan and picked up a first down there. I think it was on third or fourth down. I’m proud of the both of them.”