James Franklin opens up on growth of Penn State QB Beau Pribula

James Franklin tries to go see every high school senior who is committed to his football program. His trip to York, Pennsylvania two years ago sticks out.

That’s where he watched quarterback Beau Pribula, then a three-star prospect and now a game-changing playmaker for the Penn State offense.

“I remember coming back and just being so impressed,” a reflective Franklin said this week. “The game looked so easy to him. He was so poised.”

“And then he showed up on our campus, and he’s smart and he’s mature and he’s extremely competitive and attacks it in every area: the weight room, the classroom, on the field. His teammates love him. He’s just done everything kind of the right way. And I think probably the thing that everybody talks about is his ability to make plays with his legs. But I don’t think there’s anybody within our program that doesn’t believe that that he can do it with his arm, too.”

Pribula has backed up classmate and fellow Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar the last two years, at times providing the offense a change of pace with his athleticism.

During that two-season span, the redshirt sophomore has completed 29-of-44 passes (65.9%) while throwing for 349 yards, seven touchdowns and only one interception. He’s also piled up 77 rushing attempts, 462 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns in his career.

Last week in Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium, Pribula was thrust into the spotlight after Allar went down with an apparent left knee injury.

He led the Nittany Lions past the Badgers, 28-13, erasing a three-point halftime deficit and completing 11-of-13 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, not to mention the 28 yards he added on the ground.

His 13 pass attempts were his most in a single outing since joining the program. Coming into the game, he had yet to throw more than nine in a game.

Allar has practiced this week, but Franklin said Monday that he’s a game-time decision. If Allar can’t play Saturday, Pribula will make his first career start.

“He’s got a different throwing kind of style and mechanics than what Drew does,” Franklin said. “But he gets a ton of reps and a ton of opportunities. And I will say this, too. In the past, there were some challenges where I felt like when he played, we had to call the game differently. And I still believe that.

“But I also think there’s some times in the past where we didn’t do that, and he would play more of a style of play like Drew. And I think in a lot of ways that’s benefited him, too, because he’s had to prepare as if he’s not the mobile quarterback that he is. So I think there’s positives that come from that as well throughout his development.”

Franklin credited first-year Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki for the way he called last week’s game based on Pribula’s strengths.

Franklin hired Kotelnicki away from Kansas, where he coordinated a Kansas offense that centered around dual-threat quarterback Jalon Daniels, who broke out in 2022 with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 13:2, 398 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.

“When [Beau] goes in the game, it does impact our running game and forces them to defend the field, just like Drew’s ability to pull the ball now and run out the backside I think has really impacted our running game this year,” Frankin said. “I would say the same thing in the pass game. Beau’s threat as a runner, just like play-action pass, creates some opportunities.

“People may feel like they have to spy him, so now you’re leaving somebody that you’re not dropping into coverage, which creates some more opportunities to throw the ball down the field. So it’s another weapon, it’s another thing that they have to deal with. And I’ve been very, very pleased with his overall development as a total quarterback more than just his athleticism and his legs.”