James Franklin discusses ins and outs of quarterback competition

Drew Allar and Beau Pribula are the top two in Penn State’s quarterback competition and James Franklin wants to make sure both are ready to go.

Allar is the favorite considering his playing time last year, but Franklin said there was plenty of work to do with everyone before the season opener against West Virginia. Either way, Franklin talked about Allar and Pribula.

“Yeah, I would say they have both gotten reps with the ones with the ones which is good,” Franklin said. “They’re a different style of quarterback, which I think that’s one of the things we’re gonna have to do a good job with during the season. It’s not like we can just come up with one exact same game plan because they’re a different type of quarterback. But I would say the majority of what they do is similar. They’re both cerebral guys. They both got really high football IQ and really work at it.”

Franklin didn’t rule out a third quarterback in Penn State’s competition, although it’s early to tell.

“Obviously Beau’s got a little bit more of an element with his feet obviously,” Franklin said. “And we’ll see if we’re going to take advantage of that. So we’ll see how that plays out. But I think it’s been really good. Those guys are working like crazy. At the end of the day, we better have three quarterbacks that we feel like we can win with. Jaxon (Smolik) has done some nice things as well. Obviously between now and West Virginia, we got a ton of work to do. 

“I think just throwing in general we can’t throw enough you know, with our wide receivers and tight ends and running backs and seven on sevens, routes on air, and we can’t throw it enough. So that’ll be what’s gonna be really important from now until West Virginia.”

Franklin certainly has a task ahead of him in the quarterback competition.

In 10 appearances last season, Allar went 35-of-60 passing for 344 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He ran for 52 yards and a touchdown on the ground. 

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As a member of the Class of 2022, Allar was a five-star recruit out of Medina (Ohio) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 3 overall prospect in the state, the No. 3 quarterback prospect in the class and the No. 28 overall prospect in the class.