Tag: Jaxon Smolik

Penn State QB Beau Pribula to enter transfer portal ahead of College Football Playoff

Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula enters transfer portal.

Before Penn State ramps up its game week prep for SMU in the first round of the College Football Playoff, the program was dealt a surprise with a transfer portal decision. A key piece of the Nittany Lions offense will enter the portal and will be the program’s most high profile entrant to date.

Penn State quarterback[autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag] announced on social media that he will enter the transfer portal. Pribula is a redshirt sophomore who has two years of eligibility remaining and has added another dimension to the Penn State offense as Drew Allar’s backup.

Perhaps the biggest immediate concern surrounding Pribula’s departure is that he will be entering the portal immediately and won’t be with the team through the College Football Playoff beginning this weekend against SMU.

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The current college football landscape seemed to play a big role in Pribula’s decision. The transfer portal opened last week right as the College Football Playoff was set to begin, forcing players like Pribula into difficult decisions. Pribula likely envisions himself as a starting caliber quarterback meaning he needs to find a home as soon as possible to give himself the best chance to succeed.

It is a tough blow for Penn State who used Pribula quite a bit this season as a change-of-pace quarterback. Pribula completed 26 of 35 passes for 275 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. He also rushed 38 times for 242 yards and four touchdowns. The dual-threat quarterback should be a hot commodity for programs looking for a capable starting signal caller.

Penn State is now left with Allar, redshirt freshman[autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag] and freshman[autotag]Ethan Grunkemeyer[/autotag]. Grunkemeyer drew rave reviews for his performances this spring and in practices. Whether Pribula’s transfer means that Allar is coming back for one more season or another transfer is coming in remains to be seen, but it without a doubt is still a surprise heading into Penn State biggest game of the year.

The Nittany Lions open the College Football Playoff against SMU at Beaver Stadium on Dec. 21 and will now be without Beau Pribula, a key contributor to their offense.

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Penn State player availability report for Kent State updated

Penn State has posted its player availability report for today’s game against Kent State.

Penn State will be without one of its top defensive players on the roster this weekend when the Nittany Lions host Kent State for a mid-Saturday afternoon non-conference matchup. Head coach James Franklin announced this week that the team will be without safety, Kevin Winston Jr., for an extended period of time due to a long-term injury. This week’s player availability confirmed that for this week with Winston Jr. being among the players officially ruled out on the Penn State player availability report.

Big Ten teams are required to provide a player availability report prior to their respective games each week as part of a new conference policy put into place for the 2023 season.

The following players were listed as out for Penn State for the Kent State game.

  • [autotag]Kevin Winston Jr.[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Kari Jackson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Keon Wylie[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Zuriah Fisher[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Mason Robinson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Mehki Flowers[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Peter Gonzalez[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Andrew Rappleyea[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Sam Siafa[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Liam Andrews[/autotag]
  • [autotag]De’Andre Cook[/autotag]
  • [autotag]T.A. Cunningham[/autotag]

Penn State hosts Kent State at 3:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.

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Penn State player availability report for Week 1 at West Virginia

Penn State’s updated player availability reports confirms a couple of players expected to be out of action.

Penn State’s first road trip to open the season will see the roster without a number of players available. Penn State’s player availability report was released two hours before kicking off at West Virginia, and a total of 14 players have officially been ruled out of action.

Some of the names appearing on the list were not surprising to see. Linebacker Keon Wylie has previously been reported to be out of action for a significant period of time since the spring. Backup quarterback Jaxon Smolik was also banged up with an undisclosed injury during camp.

One of the notable players to miss the West Virginia game includes tight end Khalil Dinkins, who is expected to be a key alternative to star Tyler Warren at the position. James Franklin did note this week that Dinkins had been getting banged up leading up to the game, however.

The following players have been ruled out for Penn State in Week 1:

  • [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Khalil Dinkins[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Mylachi Williams[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Kari Jackson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Keon Wylie[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Zuriah Fisher[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Mason Robinson[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Xavier Gilliam[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Peter Gonzalez[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jerry Cross[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Sam Siafa[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Liam Andrews[/autotag]
  • [autotag]De’Andre Cook[/autotag]
  • [autotag]T.A. Cunningham[/autotag]

Big Ten schools are required to provide a player availability report no later than two hours prior to a scheduled kickoff. The policy was put into effect in 2023 and has seen a few conferences follow that idea in 2024.

West Virginia has not had any reported injuries this week. The Big 12 does not have the same kind of rules requiring player availability reports for its members. The SEC and MAC each enacted a similar policy beginning this season following the Big Ten’s lead.

Penn State and West Virginia kick off the season with their game at noon Eastern on Fox.

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Matt Zollers picks Missouri over Penn State

Penn State surprisingly missed out on the top in-state QB in the Class of 2025.

Arguably the most important commitment for the Penn State Nittany Lions in the class of 2025 was going to be announced on April 4 as they waited to hear where top in-state quarterback [autotag]Matt Zollers[/autotag] had decided to play his college football. With [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] and his offensive staff looking to bring in two quarterbacks during this cycle, they were hoping to land the rising four-star recruit who is ranked as one of the top players in Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately for Penn State, he committed to Missouri.

After looking like the leaders in the clubhouse for a long time during his process, Zollers’ recruitment took a national turn as the likes of Georgia, Missouri, and Alabama were part of his final five schools.

“My connections at Missouri were just greater than they were anywhere else. This was a really tough decision for me to make. I ultimately decided this morning,” the talented quarterback told Chad Simmons of On3.

That statement is an eye opener for people who have been following this recruitment process considering he had taken around eight visits to Happy Valley and roughly three to Missouri.

The Tigers really popped onto his radar and made a late push to land him as one of the headliners of their class.

Penn State’s bottleneck at the position could have had something to do with his decision as well.

Incumbent starter [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] could come back for another season after this year, [autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag] is still a factor alongside [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag], plus highly-rated [autotag]Ethan Grunkemeyer[/autotag] from the 2024 class is entering his freshman season.

Still, this is a tough one to swallow for Penn State fans as they lose out on the top-rated recruit in the state of Pennsylvania and someone who was at the top of their board.

No starting quarterback named ahead of West Virginia game

James Franklin still has not officially named Penn State’s starting quarterback for Week 1 vs. West Virginia even if we all know who it will end up being.

There are thoughts that the quarterback competition that [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] kept propping up throughout the offseason was just a formality. However, on Tuesday during his press conference ahead of the season opener against West Virginia, a starting quarterback still hasn’t been named at Penn State.

Fans have been clamoring for the program’s keys to be turned over to the former five-star quarterback [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag], who got live game reps last season. Still, the head coach is not ready to publicly declare who will start the game on Saturday.

“I’m not making any announcements at this time,” Franklin said on Tuesday during his regularly scheduled press conference with reporters. “I do think it’s been good competition. Not only has [[autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag]] done some nice things, Beau brings an element that maybe Drew doesn’t have. Maybe even factoring those things in, I think sometimes as a running quarterback, those things are hard to evaluate in practice because you don’t really see them.

Franklin continued his thought son Pribula by comparing him to one of his first quarterbacks at Penn State, Trace McSorley.

“He’s not out there breaking tackles in practice, which is his style,” Franklin said about Pribula. “He reminds me of Trace [McSorley]. And [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag] has had a good camp too. We have three quarterbacks that have all shown signs that we can win with.”

That statement might leave fans wondering if Allar hasn’t performed well in the offseason to leave an opening for redshirt freshman Pribula to actually win the job.

According to the head coach, that has not been the case.

“Drew’s had a good camp, and a camp that has given himself and his teammates and coaches a bunch of confidence,” Franklin said.

Here’s what is probably going to happen. The coaching staff doesn’t want to announce who the starting quarterback will be because they want West Virginia to continue preparing for the different styles that Allar and Pribula bring to the game. Allar is going to start when the game starts, but there will be packages built into the offense for Pribula.

Both quarterbacks will make appearances in this game and it’s likely that the coaching staff will finally announce the starter for the season after they’re done playing West Virginia.

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Penn State in Top 5 of 2025 4-star quarterback

Penn State one of the top five schools for four-star QB in Class of 2025.

Penn State has had a good string of quarterback commitments in the past few years.

They landed the number one player at the position in 2022 when signing [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag]. They followed that up with flipping three-star Elite 11 finalist [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag] from Tulane to commit to them in 2023. In the 2024 class, they have four-star [autotag]Ethan Grunkemeyer[/autotag] committed to the program as well.

Now, they have their sights set on another quarterback recruit in the class of 2025.

[autotag]Ryan Montgomery[/autotag] is a four-star recruit from the state of Ohio. He is a 6’3″ 210 pound quarterback with a big arm constantly looking down the field to make explosive plays. He has good mobility in the pocket and shows speed when he runs on designed plays or is flushed outside.

The four-star prospect racked up just under 30 scholarship offers from schools across the country before cutting his list to five schools on Tuesday.

Penn State, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina are the programs that made his list.

On3’s industry rankings have him as the 16th ranked quarterback in the class of 2025 and the 206th best player overall.

Prior to choosing his top five schools, Montgomery had visited Ohio State and Michigan the most with nine unofficial visits. He cut the Buckeyes as an option, but kept the Wolverines.

He’s visited Penn State four times with the last trip to Happy Valley coming in October 2022.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine had Ohio State as the favorites to land the instate quarterback with 22.8%, but didn’t make his top five. Michigan is currently second in the rankings with 20.0% and Penn State fourth with 6.4%.

The percentages should be updated soon to reflect the list that he’s put out as he starts planning out more visits during the fall.

Montgomery also told Chad Simmons of On3 that he would like to commit to a school before his senior year season. He’s not sure exactly when, but that’s the timeline he has at the moment.

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James Franklin seemingly makes a QB decision for 2023, but not the one you thought

James Franklin says which quarterback has been one of the biggest surprises in camp practices so far

Penn State head coach James Franklin is really trying to convince the masses the competition for the starting quarterback job is a wide-open race between Drew Allar and Beau Pribula. Even if that is true and not just coachspeak, Franklin has yet to name his Week 1 starter when Penn State opens the season at home against West Virginia. But he has settled on his team’s third quarterback for the upcoming season.

While addressing a question about the quarterback timetable at Penn State media day on Sunday afternoon, Franklin said there is no specific timetable for announcing who the starter will be. But it seems pretty clear who the third quarterback will be; Jaxon Smolik.

“I’d say [Jaxon] Smolik has been kind of the surprise at camp so far, specifically in the quarterback room,” Franklin said during a press conference with the media on Sunday. “He’s one of those guys that although he is still learning the nuances of the position and the nuances of the offense in terms of in the meeting, when asked questions, he’s not where Drew and Beau are in terms of being able to answer questions in a meeting, but he’s just got a natural feel for the position on the field.”

Smolik is a true freshman in Penn State’s Class of 2023. The Iowa native was a three-star recruit according to his 247Sports composite ranking and he was expected to be no higher than third on the depth chart this season behind Allar and Pribula, and likely in that order.

The addition of Smolik to the recruiting class was a much-needed one after Penn State saw Christian Veilleux transfer (to Pitt) and one other quarterback commitment flip his commitment to another school. Ironically, Penn State managed to flip Smolik’s commitment from Tulane to fill the spot in the recruiting class.

But as for the ongoing quarterback situation at the top of the depth chart? Franklin continues to suggest no decision has been made even though it would be a total shock if Allar is not the one leading the Penn State offense in a matter of weeks when the season opens.

“In terms of decisions, you know, we are not announcing or making any decisions at this point, really, at any position,” Franklin explained. “It’s a competition, and we want to create competition at every position as long as possible, and I think it brings the best out in everyone. As you guys know, that’s really kind of how we have operated here for 10 years.”

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2023 Penn State football snapshot profile: No. 14 Jaxon Smolik

A snapshot profile look at backup Penn State QB Jaxon Smolik entering the 2023 season.

Going into the 2023 football season, Nittany Lions Wire will be looking at each scholarship player listed on the Penn State roster. Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for James Franklin this season.

Turning our heads to the offense, it is easy to see why there is so much interest in the quarterback position this fall. Drew Allar may be the guy in the spotlight, but who will be backing him up this season? [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag], who joined the program in the Class of 2023, could be one of the backup options for the Nittany Lions. Here is a look at one of Penn State’s expected backup players at a key position this fall.

Where did Penn State rank in ESPN’s quarterback rankings?

ESPN ranked quarterbacks for each team. Here’s where Drew Allar and Penn State rank.

Each year ESPN ranks the future of the quarterback position for each team in college football, and, like most years, Penn State is ranked decently high in the grand scheme.

Last year it was ranked 11th with [autotag]Sean Clifford[/autotag] at the helm backed up by [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] and [autotag]Christian Veilleux[/autotag]. With two of those three being elsewhere, it makes sense that Penn State may dip in the rankings and they did just that.

ESPN has the Nittany Lions ranked 15th in this year’s rankings. They discuss the drop coming from the departure of Clifford to the NFL and of Veilleux transferring to in-state rival Pittsburgh. The moves leave Drew Allar as the man to take over, and ESPN gives plenty of praise to him. They mention the expectations surrounding Allar are high; he is the highest-rated quarterback recruit they have had since Christian Hackenberg in 2013.

They also highlight that Allar will be in a familiar environment, stating the  “team has schematic continuity with coordinator Mike Yurcich” and it is that continuity that should help Allar in his first year as a starter.

The biggest flaw outside of the departure of the veteran presence on the depth chart is the people behind Allar. ESPN adds “redshirt freshman [autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag] and true freshman [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag] … there’s a lot riding on Allar here, but he has the skill set to take Penn State a long way.”

They aren’t wrong, if something goes sideways in State College with Allar, the Nittany Lions will be in dire straights at the quarterback position. Franklin couldn’t land any veterans within the transfer portal so for better or worse this is the best they can do at quarterback behind Allar.

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James Franklin previews plan for quarterbacks in Penn State spring practices

James Franklin says there will be a QB competition at Penn State this spring.

For the first time in a number of years, Penn Stae opened its spring football practice schedule with a bit of a competition at quarterback. The expectation is that sophomore [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] will be the team’s starting quarterback, the successor to Sean Clifford, this fall, but head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] isn’t at the point where he is designating that starting job for Allar just yet. Instead, Franklin will make sure the quarterbacks get an even number of reps, or close to it, as the spring practices open.

“Well, this spring is just to get those guys as many reps as we possibly can to be able to evaluate them, to create a competition, and to also create depth,” Franklin said in a press conference on Tuesday as Penn State opened its spring football practice schedule. “I do think, if you look at last year, we had a very specific plan to get Drew as many reps as we possibly could to build that depth and to build that experience, so if we needed him, he was ready, but also to help us this year moving forward.”

Allar appeared in 10 games for the Nittany Lions last season, each time in relief of Sean Clifford and generally in games when the outcome was all but official one way or the other (mostly in Penn State’s favor). Allar, the top quarterback from Ohio in the Class of 2022, passed for 344 yards and four touchdowns. Allar was used as the primary backup ahead of Christian Veilleux, who has since moved on to Pitt by way of the transfer portal.

Penn State’s plan iht the quarterbacks this spring will allow [autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag] and transfer addition [autotag]Jaxon Smolik[/autotag] to get some reps with the offense, which is also working on cementing its situation at wide receiver. Allar may be the top option and few expect him to be knocked off the top of the depth chart, but Franklin will encourage competition at quarterback this spring before anointing Allar the one to run the offense.

“This year’s a little bit different because we’re back to kind of having a true competition again,” Franklin explained. “Beau has got some athletic traits that are desirable and maybe make sense for us to use if they give us the best chance to win.”

But as Franklin continued with his thoughts on the quarterback plan this spring, it did seem as though he left the door open to get Pribula a few more reps later in the spring that suggests there may be a few specific ways Pribula could be used on offense.

“There could be some situations where Beau actually gets more reps by the end of spring because I think there’s some things that we may want to do with Beau to take advantage of his skill set and maybe create an opportunity for him to get some more experience, not only during spring ball, but in games next year as well,” Franklin said. “So we’ll see how that all plays out.”

The spring is clearly a good time to experiment a bit with the talent you have in place, especially if the starting job is actually known behind closed doors. Fans may get a glimpse of the quarterback plan in the annual Blue-White Game on Saturday, April 15.

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