Penn State Football: 5 potential transfer destinations for Tommy Stevens

2. Rutgers

The power-five program that offers the clearest path to a starting job would require that Stevens remains in the Big Ten East. It would be a massive step down going from a perennial Big Ten contender to a cellar-dweller, but Stevens would undoubtedly be the instant favorite to be the starting quarterback at Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights have their starting signal-caller from last season back on the roster, but Artur Sitkowski’s job is nowhere close to being safe after an abysmal freshman season at the helm of the offense. Sitkowski completed 49 percent of his passes with only 4 touchdowns to 18 interceptions a year ago.

Predictably, Rutgers was one of the worst teams in the country last season, dropping down to 1-11 after a mini-breakthrough in 2017. Head coach Chris Ash will be entering his fourth season on the sideline and will be fighting for his job. It’ll take a step forward in 2019 for him to retain his post going forward.

That should mean he is exhausting all options to improve his quarterback room heading into next season. Stevens has Big Ten pedigree and a playmaking ability that has sorely been missing on Rutgers’s offensive roster.

Stevens alone probably wouldn’t be enough to lift the Scarlet Knights to bowl eligibility, but he could potentially help them take a big enough step for Ash to keep his job for at least another season.