Blue White Illustrated

defensive tackle Antonio Shelton opted to enter the transfer portal. In another departure from its normal rules, the NCAA is not counting the 2020 season against players' eligibility caps, meaning that members of this past year's senior class can return in 2021 if they choose. Penn State has benefitted from that measure, too, as cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields and safety Jaquan Brisker have said they're coming back. Castro- Fields was bothered by injuries the past two seasons and is eager for one more shot to show off his NFL potential. But while the NCAA's recent rulings have changed the dynamics of the 2021 off-sea- son in important ways, there are hopes that college football will adhere to a more typi- cal routine in the coming months, or at least more typical than last year when spring practice at most schools was cur- tailed or canceled outright due to the pan- demic. The rapid-testing protocols that the Power Five conferences put in place this past fall, coupled with the steady rollout of vaccines, could help usher in a return to some semblance of normalcy. The Big Ten's protocols helped Penn State play all nine of its scheduled games, and across the Football Bowl Subdivision, 127 teams were able to play at least a handful of games in 2020. If those teams were able to take part in intercollegiate action in the fall, it's likely they'll be able to hold spring practice of some sort, given that they can do so with- out leaving their respective campuses. It'll be messy, to be sure, with restric- tions on public gatherings varying from state to state throughout the spring, but anything would be an improvement over last year's outright cancelation. The Nit- tany Lions weren't able to conduct any off-season drills before all spring sports activities were shut down last March. While it would be hard to pin the Lions' slow start on any single factor, the cancel- lation of spring practice certainly didn't help, especially with four new assistant coaches needing to get acclimated and as- sess the personnel they had inherited. A full 15-session spring practice regi- men would be a big step toward normalcy. Although there certainly won't be a con- ventional Blue-White Game with fans and tailgating and all the usual hoopla, the practices themselves are what matter most. Penn State's staff, which includes a new addition in recently hired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, will be eager to get them under way. With an eye toward those drills – and another eye on the pandemic, which con- tinues to make everything feel a little bit tentative – here's a position-by-position look at where things stand at the outset of the 2021 off-season: QUARTERBACK KEY RETURNEES Sean Clifford, Will Levis, Ta'Quan Roberson KEY LOSSES Micah Bowens, Michael Johnson Jr. NEWCOMER Christian Veilleux OUTLOOK There's no avoiding it: Penn State didn't get the kind of assured, mis- take-free play from the quarterback posi- tion that it needed in order to be competitive at an elite level in 2020. Clif- ford threw nine interceptions, tied for the highest total in the Big Ten, and he fumbled on strip-sacks that produced defensive touchdowns in losses to Maryland and Ne- braska. The second of those fumbles tem- porarily cost him his starting job, as Levis replaced him against the Cornhuskers and started the following week vs. Iowa. At midseason, the coaching staff seemed genuinely uncertain which of its top two quarterbacks was better equipped to run the offense. They even- tually settled on a rotation of sorts, with Clifford starting and getting most of the snaps and Levis replacing him in short- yardage situations in which he basically served as a wildcat fullback. That arrangement worked out pretty well for all concerned, especially Clifford. In Penn State's last four games, the redshirt junior completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 813 yards, with five touchdowns and just one interception. So where do the Lions go from here? Unless they bring in someone via the transfer portal – an unlikely scenario given that they will have four scholarship quarterbacks on their roster this fall – they'll be relying on the Clifford-Levis combo again and hoping that the turnover problems don't recur. During their four- game win streak to close out the season, the Lions only lost the turnover battle once – at Rutgers. So when they hang onto the ball, they win. Or at least they improve their odds considerably. It remains to be seen how Yurcich's ar- rival will change the offense schemati- cally, but one can only assume it will be a more thorough overhaul than the one that followed Kirk Ciarrocca's arrival a year ago. In his previous stops at Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Texas, Yurcich's teams used plenty of pre-snap motion and prioritized the passing game as a way to create explosive plays and open up space for the running backs. Clifford has shown that he can be a for- midable playmaking threat. When he came on in relief of Levis against the Hawkeyes, he threw touchdown passes on his first two snaps of the game. But then the turnover problems resurfaced, and the Lions' comeback attempt fizzled. Yurcich has been associated with some very good QBs in his career, so if he has a conventional off-season in which to work with Clifford and Levis, there's ample reason to believe that Penn State will get its turnover issues sorted out and enjoy a bounce-back season in 2021. One caveat, however, is that the Lions' QBs will be working with their third offensive coor- dinator in as many years. You'd prefer a little more stability here, so hopefully PSU can keep Yurcich around for a while. Penn State will welcome back another scholarship quarterback in Roberson, and it will bring aboard a newcomer in true freshman Veilleux. Roberson has played in two games over the past two seasons and didn't have a passing attempt in 2020. Bowens has elected to transfer. >> EDITOR'S NOTE Newcomers listed here include only Class of 2021 recruits and in- coming transfers. Members of Penn State's 2020 recruiting class who didn't see action last season are listed among the key returnees.

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