James Franklin explains how Beau Pribula is 'wired right' despite not starting

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin praised backup quarterback Beau Pribula, explaining that he has the right mentality and approach despite not starting.

Franklin also acknowledged the challenge that goes along with not being the starter. That’s true of every position, but it’s often most noticeable at the quarterback position.

“I think it’s a really hard challenge,” James Franklin said. “Most of these guys, they’ve always been the best players, they’ve never not been the guy. So, it is a huge challenge just physically, the love of playing the game, the emotional impact on it, and to be honest with you, the parents — the parents struggle with it a lot of times. So, yeah, I think that is challenging, but I think it’s a good question.”

Pribula got into the game against Delaware in mop-up duty. The majority of his job was to hand the ball off but he still managed to throw for a touchdown. That’s because he was properly prepared for the game.

“I think, first of all, I think Beau is wired right,” Franklin said of Pribula. “His preparation is excellent. He’s a very thoughtful young man. I think he’s a very driven young man and extremely competitive. So, it’s funny because I think if you asked our players, they would say they’re sick of hearing that from me. I talked to the guys all the time, I met with the freshmen yesterday, that was one of the topics, are you preparing as if you were the starter right now because if you don’t then this time next year, you’re gonna be upset with your role because you’re not gonna be ready.”

“I think it’s really an important lesson for all of our guys to learn, not just for football, but in life. You may be the assistant manager one day on your job and you want to be the manager, and your number gets called and you get the opportunity to serve that role and you’re not ready.”

James Franklin also added that he sees similarities between Beau Pribula this season to what Drew Allar was able to do last season.

“So we talk about it all the time, but I think with Beau I think we’re pretty comfortable and confident that Beau is preparing like a starter, very similar to how I think Drew was last year and Beau last year as well. I think that’s allowed him to be successful,” Franklin said. “I think we’re doing a better job as a coaching staff, and it’s not easy to do when you’re trying to do everything you can to get your starter ready and your backup quarterback has a different style, making sure that you’re playing to his strengths as well. A lot of people say they’ll do that. A lot of people say that. We’re going to play to the strengths of our personnel, and they don’t. They don’t.

“I think we’re doing a really good job of that. Coach [Mike] Yurcich is doing a really good job of that, of saying okay, as a first-time starter what does Drew do well and let’s play though these strengths,” Franklin continued. “Hopefully, that grows every week, the things that he’s comfortable and confident with. Same thing, okay, Beau in your role, what are the things that you’re comfortable with and how can we play to your strengths? They’re really separate packages, which is challenging and difficult for us to get them both ready, but also can create challenges and difficulty also on the defensive coordinator and the defenses that we face because they’ve got to spend time on both.”

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

Despite not being the starting quarterback at Penn State, James Franklin explained that he expects Beau Pribula to have an impact this season.

“And then with Drew [Allar], 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. 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,” Franklin said.

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