Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472993
A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 3 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M QUARTERBACKS PERSONNEL POSITION COACH Mike Yurcich: Yurcich's much-anticipated debut season as Penn State's offensive coordi- nator and quarterbacks coach began with five consecutive victories. He had been brought into the program by James Franklin in the hope of correcting what Franklin saw as a mismatch during Kirk Ciarrocca's lone season with the Nit- tany Lions in 2020. The first month of the 2021 season seemed to bear out the wisdom of that change. Yur- cich's deft play calls contributed to a hard- fought upset victory at Wisconsin, and he similarly helped propel Penn State to a 28-20 win over SEC stalwart Auburn. The Lions were 5-0 following a 24-0 shutout of Indiana, and they seemed to be on their way to a 6-0 start after taking a 17-3 lead over Iowa in the first 17 minutes of a top-five showdown with the host Hawkeyes. Then it all unraveled. Clifford suffered an injury to his torso at Kinnick Stadium, and not only did the Nittany Lions go on to lose a game to the Hawkeyes that they had been leading by two touchdowns, they lost five of their next seven, largely because their offense struggled to find its rhythm after Clifford got hurt. Yurcich's track record is undeniable. Over his eight seasons as an FBS coordinator, his offenses have posted 6.36 yards per play and 13.79 yards per pass completion, both tops among his peers since 2013. But in 2021, thanks largely to Clifford's midseason injury at Iowa and the subsequent fallout, Penn State averaged just 5.3 yards per play and 12.0 yards per pass completion. Can Yurcich help engineer an offensive resur- gence this year? Improvement in returning to those averages will be critical to doing so. RETURNING SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS SEAN CLIFFORD R-Sr.+ | 6-2 | 216 • Ranks as one of only three players in Penn State history to surpass 8,000 yards of total offense and one of only three to top 7,500 passing yards. • Second in school history with 62 career touchdown passes. • Three-time team captain with 38 career games played and 33 starts. • Completed 261 of 429 passes for 3,107 yards, 21 touchdowns and 9 interceptions last season. CHRISTIAN VEILLEUX R-Fr. | 6-4 | 202 • Completed 16 of 26 passes in two appear- ances as a true freshman, throwing for 235 yards and 3 touchdowns. • Was the first true freshman quarterback to throw a touchdown pass for Penn State since Christian Hackenberg in 2013. • Began the season as the Nittany Lions' third-team quarterback but climbed into the No. 2 role ahead of the Ohio State game on Oct. 30. • Threw for 2,006 yards and 29 touchdowns as a junior at The Bullis School in Potomac, Md., in what would turn out to be his final high school season. (The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.) NEWCOMERS DREW ALLAR Fr. | 6-5 | 229 • Enrolled in January and completed 6 of 14 passes for 61 yards, with 2 interceptions, in the Blue-White Game. • Was named Ohio's Mr. Football for his performance as a senior at Medina High in 2021. • Rated among the best prospects in the class of 2022 according to the On3 Consen- sus, finishing as the No. 29 overall player, and No. 4 quarterback in the cycle. • Led Medina to a 13-1 record as a senior, completing 305 of 511 passes for 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns. BEAU PRIBULA Fr. | 6-2 | 200 • Enrolled in January and completed 2 of 3 passes for 7 yards in the Blue-White Game. • Finished as the 25th-ranked quarterback in the class of 2022 according to the On3 Consensus and was No. 13 among all senior prospects in Pennsylvania. • Won first-team all-state honors following his junior and senior seasons at Central York High School. • Named the Pennsylvania State Player of the Year in both 2020 and '21. True freshman Drew Allar enrolled in January, took part in spring practice and completed 6 of 14 passes for 61 yards in the Blue-White Game. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL