James Franklin breaks down quarterback battle, impact of Sean Clifford departure

With Sean Clifford‘s departure, it’s Drew Allar and the rest of the Penn State quarterbacks in competition, something James Franklin is eager for.

Redshirt freshman Beau Pribula is an intriguing prospect, but all signs point to Allar at the moment. Regardless of who’s under center, they have big shoes to fill with the vacated Clifford, a fifth round pick by the Green Bay Packers.

In between spring and fall camp, Franklin broke down how he sees the quarterback room.

“Whenever you lose a veteran quarterback like we did in Sean Clifford, who got drafted in the fifth round, so happy for him by the Green Bay Packers,” Franklin said. “But you know when you’ve had a guy who’s been a multiple year starter and now you’re going into a little bit of some unknowns at that that position and the impact of that position and whether it’s, you know, the NFL or college football, major college football, that’s a question mark for sure.”

Franklin said the team should be better across the board, but it’s up to the team to put in the work. That would include Allar and the offense.

“I think we got a chance to be better on the offensive line,” Franklin said. “I think we got a chance to be better at tight end, I think we got a chance to be better at the running back position. From an experience standpoint, our two question marks that we have to get resolved is wide receiver and quarterback.

“And I think if we can get those resolved, and I think we have some internal pieces that can allow us to do that, then I think the sky’s the limit. Defensively, you know, we lost some good players, but I think we got a chance to be really good on defense.”

Drew Allar opens up on fans calling for him to replace Sean Clifford

Overall, there were 10 appearances for Allar in 2022, some due to injury and some in relief. But the former five-star quarterback was never named the starter over the veteran Clifford.

Allar joined Next Up with Adam Breneman and opened up about the cries for him to start over Clifford.

“Not all of it was Sean’s, like, just things didn’t go the way we wanted obviously,” Allar said. “Honestly, Sean was probably the most mad out of anybody in the stadium because he wants to go out and complete every pass that he throws and be perfect and that’s not going to happen in football. But that was one of the great things I learned from him as well.

“Just seeing how he handled everything: fans, media, just how he handled everything with such class (and) professionalism was something that I really gained from him too.”