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scrutiny is possible under the media re- strictions that the pandemic has im- posed. That's primarily because the quarterbacks are being asked to adapt to yet another new offensive system, this one having been imported by recently hired coordinator Mike Yurcich, for- merly of Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Texas. It's also because Sean Clifford is coming off an up-and-down 2020 sea- son in which he struggled with turnovers and wasn't able to build on the successes he enjoyed as a first-year starter in 2019. How well Clifford accli- mates to Yurcich's offense is probably the team's biggest unknown as it looks to put last year's 4-5 finish firmly in the rear-view. And there's a third reason why the quarterbacks have been such a preoccu- pation this spring: No one really knows how deep the Nittany Lions are at this spot. When Levis left for Kentucky via the transfer portal and Micah Bowens headed to Oklahoma after just one sea- son in University Park, the Lions were left with only two scholarship quarter- backs behind Clifford: Roberson and Christian Veilleux. That was far from ideal. As James Franklin noted at the start of spring practice, "You would like to be at five scholarship quarterbacks all the time. I think you can get away with four. Three gets a little dicey." It gets even more precarious when you consider that two of the three have seen almost no game action in a year and a half. Veilleux had his senior season at the Bullis School wiped out when Mary- land shut down high school football last fall due to the pandemic; the last time he played in a game that counted was Nov. 9, 2019, when he threw touchdown passes of 65 and 33 yards in a 22-16 loss to Georgetown Prep in the Interstate Athletic Conference championship game. As for Roberson, he was slowed by an unspecified health problem and saw action in only one game for Penn State last year – the season finale against Illi- nois. He didn't have a passing attempt against the Illini, which means that his incompletion to Chisena in the Rutgers game is the only pass that any of Penn State's current backup quarterbacks have thrown at the college level. The dearth of game experience has to be a matter of some concern to the coaching staff. Just how much concern will depend on the kind of progress the young quarterbacks display in the days and weeks ahead. "There's going to be a lot of time between now and next season for them to do that," Franklin said. "That's going to be the emphasis in meetings and practices and in scrim- mages and those types of things. I just want to see them taking steps every sin- gle day in how they go about their busi- ness." Franklin said the goal this spring has been to get all three quarterbacks enough reps so that the staff can accu- rately gauge their development. "It's all going to be based on how practice goes. If somebody puts himself in a position to earn more reps with whatever group it is, then we'll look at that. But right now, we just want those guys all to go out there and have a chance to get better and build their own confidence, but also build the confidence of the coaching staff and their teammates that they're ready." And if they're not ready? What then? The transfer portal could provide some options in the coming weeks as quarter- backs at other schools find themselves dissatisfied with their career prospects coming out of spring practice. If, as ex- pected, there are some disenchanted but promising QBs hitting the transfer mar- ket in April and May, the Lions will most likely make a serious bid to land one. Whether they'll find someone capable of challenging Clifford for the starting spot is an open question, but a quarterback with even a modest college resume would boost the team's numbers and lessen the risk of an injury or two torpe- doing what Franklin and his staff hope will be a bounce-back season. "There are some opportunities for us to still look into the transfer market from a competition standpoint, from a depth standpoint, from a lot of different per- spectives," Franklin said at the start of spring practice. "But it's got to be the right fit, and it's got to make sense on a lot of different levels." The best solution would be for Clifford and Roberson to make a smooth transi- tion into Yurcich's offense, for Veilleux to show that he's capable of filling in if needed in the fall, and for the incoming transfer quarterback – if there is one – to be an insurance policy, not an urgent need. But that's a big ask, and it's tough to imagine the Nittany Lions taking care of every item on their checklist before the start of preseason camp. For exam- ple, if the need isn't urgent, there's less likelihood of a high-caliber transfer wanting to sign on. Why would an am- bitious young quarterback walk into the same type of situation that he was trying to escape when he left his previous school? The other possibility is that there will be some hurdles to overcome as Clifford and Roberson adapt to their third offen- sive coordinator in as many years and that the lack of experienced depth be- hind Clifford will prove enticing to po- tential transfers. The Nittany Lions asked Levis to start games in each of the past two seasons, and that bit of history could end up piquing someone's inter- est, too. We'll find out soon enough. For now, the Lions are focused on the players they already have on hand. Even in this new era, one in which quick fixes are possible thanks to a transfer process that has come to resemble the NFL's free agent market, there's a lot to be said for simply signing great players and devel- oping them yourself. The circumstances for Penn State this year are a little bit more complicated, since none of its three quarterbacks were recruited with Yur- cich's offense in mind, but the principle is the same. The teams that recruit and develop well usually end up prospering, while those that don't tend to struggle. How well has Penn State recruited at the quarterback position? That's what the staff is hopefully finding out this spring, one snap at a time, every one of those snaps more consequential than the last. ■ >>

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