Sometimes a change of scenery does a player good. In the case of former Penn State quarterback [autotag]Will Levis[/autotag], that change of scenery from Happy Valley to Lexington, Kentucky paid dividends. The former backup quarterback to Sean Clifford saw his draft stock soar as a starter for Kentucky in the SEC, but he had to wait an extra night before hearing his name called at the NFL draft.
The Tennessee Titans traded up to the 33rd overall pick to select Levis with a second-round draft pick one pick after Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was drafted with the first pick of the second round by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Although he truly became an NFL draft hotshot with his success at Kentucky, Levis was recruited by Penn State and head coach James Franklin, making Levis the first quarterback to be drafted in the first round to commit to Franklin.
Levis spent his first two seasons of college football at Penn State, where he was the primary backup to Clifford in 2019 and 2020. Levis completed 59/8% of his pass attempts as a backup in the Penn State offense with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Levis also rushed for 473 yards and six touchdowns in the Penn State offense.
Following the 2020 season, Levis entered the transfer portal to pursue an opportunity to be a starting quarterback, as Clifford was essentially cemented as Penn State’s starter at the position going into the 2021 season. Levis landed at Kentucky and things took off quickly for him with the Wildcats. Levis passed for 5,232 yards and 43 touchdowns in two seasons with Kentucky, with 269 rushing yards and one touchdown as Kentucky clearly saw a different way to succeed with Levis at quarterback than how Penn State utilized him.
Levis was the fourth quarterback off the board in the 2023 NFL draft following Alabama’s Bryce Young going number one overall to the Carolina Panthers, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud going second to the Houston Texans, and Florida’s Anthony Richardson going fourth overall to the Indianapolis Colts.
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