Monday morning ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Penn State quarterback Drew Allar intends to return to Happy Valley for his senior season.
Allar is in his second season as the starter for the Nittany Lions with a 21-5 record and 5,869 passing yards. This season Allar helped lead his team to their first Big Ten Championship game appearance since 2016 and first ever CFP berth.
While the news of Allar’s return is great for Penn State, it has put the team in a tough situation for the 2024 College Football Playoff thanks to the current state of the sport.
On Sunday night, just hours before the Allar news and less than a week away from Penn State’s quarterfinal matchup against SMU, back-up QB Beau Pribula announced via X that he will be entering the transfer portal and will not be with the team for the Playoff.
With these two quarterback decisions coming so close to one another it is almost certain that Pribula made his choice in reaction to Allar’s with hopes of being a starter in 2025.
While it does seem wrong for a player to leave a team who is still competing for a national championship, Pribula had to due to the way the transfer portal works. With the portal now open, closing on December 28th, and several other QB’s already in it and finding new schools, this decision makes sense.
Not only does this suck for Pribula, who described it as “an impossible decision”, but it also has Penn State going into the playoff a man down.
Pribula was more than your typical back-up as he was often utilized as a run threat appearing in all but one game for the Nittany Lions this season. He also proved himself as a reliable and capable back-up when Allar went down in Week 9 against Wisconsin. With the Nittany Lions trailing Pribula came in and played the entire second half leading the team to a 15 point victory on the road.
Now I absolutely hate even thinking about this, but the elephant in the room needs to be addressed; what if Allar goes down with an injury or even what if his helmet just pops off and he must come off the field for a play in the Playoff?
True freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer will now step into the back-up role and would likely be called upon if one of the priors occurs. Grunkemeyer has yet to play a meaningful snap in college football, but he is now just a play away from being thrust onto one of the biggest stages in sport.
While the news of Allar’s return is exciting, it has now created this big “what if” scenario for James Franklin’s squad as they chase a national title.