Penn State’s quarterbacks room had an abrupt vacancy for the No. 2 role last December, when Beau Pribula entered the transfer portal before the Nittany Lions’ first College Football Playoff game. The offense filled that role without competition, largely because freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer was the only scholarship quarterback healthy and available.
This spring, the dynamic changed. Redshirt sophomore Jaxon Smolik, who sustained a season-ending injury last spring, returned better and quicker than expected. By doing so, Smolik heightened the QB2 competition to one that Penn State coach James Franklin said will extend through fall training camp.
“Things are going phenomenally,” Franklin said after the Blue-White Game.
Smolik and Grunkemeyer spent spring practice not only improving their processing speed of coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s offense but also making their pitch to back up Drew Allar. Both had their moments during the Blue-White Game, but one from Smolik stood out for a bit of wow factor.
During a live scrimmage rep (quarterbacks were off limits to contact), Smolik rolled away from pressure and threw downfield to receiver Josiah Brown. He demonstrated a strong sense of spatial awareness, improvisation and recognition. The play was equally impressive for the catch Brown made through a jarring hit by fellow freshman Daryus Dixson, who jarred loose Brown’s helmet but not the football.
In that moment, Smolik (6-1, 213 pounds) looked like a quarterback who had returned fully from injury and was ready to compete for the No. 2 job. Franklin said that Smolik looked like that throughout spring drills.
“Jaxon has done a heck of a job,” Franklin said during spring practice. “We didn’t really know, coming off injury, where he would be, but both of them are doing really well. And that’s not coachspeak. They’re both doing very, very well, so I think this is going to be a competition that’s going to go on for a while. I thought Jaxon would come off the injury a little rusty. He has not been.”
Ever reluctant to lift one more than another, Franklin made sure to loop Grunkemeyer into the conversation. Still, Franklin had reason to praise the 6-2, 210-pound redshirt freshman quarterback, who also showed some mobility and a lively arm.
In discussing the quarterbacks, Franklin also returned to a promise he has made before but hasn’t always kept. The head coach said that the quarterback who wins the backup role will get meaningful reps on offense during the season. In fact, Franklin called the idea important.
“Whoever wins the backup quarterback job we’re going to have to get them real reps, whether that be packages that we have set up for them or entire series,” Franklin said.
Penn State has a runway to play its backup quarterback early and significantly. The Nittany Lions open the season with home games vs. Nevada, Florida International and Villanova. Then they have a bye week before hosting Oregon for the Big Ten opener Sept. 27 at Beaver Stadium.
The reference to a backup-specific package was interesting, though. Penn State built a subset of plays last season for Pribula, who ran them with Allar on the field. The Nittany Lions likely will be comfortable running those plays during the non-conference schedule. But against Oregon and throughout the Big Ten schedule? The QB2 will have earned a significant level of trust to carve that role.
In the meantime, Allar said both quarterbacks have impressed him, diplomatically steering clear of the depth-chart aspect of their play and focusing on their improvement.
“They’ve both done a really good job this spring,” Allar said. “I think with them, they’re very competitive at what they do and they get better every practice. You know, they’re still young, obviously, but they’ve made a drastic improvement this spring. It has been fun to see their development and just the way that they are in the room.
“I think we have a really good quarterback room culturally, and that starts with [quarterbacks coach] Danny [O’Brien] obviously running that room for us. And I think we have a really good culture in that room. Obviously we want to be competitive and win in everything that we do. But we’re also taking the time to teach each other stuff, talk through what we’re seeing, ask questions. It’s a really good room right now, and I’m really excited to see them continue to develop, just because they both have bright futures ahead of them.”
More Penn State Football
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
