Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503568
A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 3 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / Q U A R T E R B A C K S / / / / / / / The offensive coordinators who engineered those performances — Joe Moorhead and Ricky Rahne, respectively — are both long gone, having been succeeded by Kirk Ciarrocca and now Mike Yurcich. That brings us to footnote No. 2: Yurcich last worked with a first-year starter in 2019 when he was at Ohio State. The quarterback in question was Justin Fields. Maybe you've heard of him. Under Yurcich's guidance, Fields threw for 3,273 yards, won second-team All-America honors and finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting while guiding the Buckeyes to the College Foot- ball Playoff semifinals. It would be wildly premature to suggest that the careers of those previous players will serve as a template for Allar. But it's notable that the people around him have a track record of putting young quarterbacks in a position to succeed. BY THE NUMBERS 3rd Penn State's spot in Athlon's Big Ten unit rankings for the quarterback position. Despite their inexperience at the position, the Nittany Lions trail only Michigan and Ohio State. PSU is ahead of Maryland, even though Taulia Tagovailoa is getting set to start for the fourth consecutive year in College Park. 13.63 Yards per completion by Mike Yurcich-coached quarterbacks since 2013. That's the high- est average for any offensive coordinator in the country over that 10-year span. 52 Rushing yards by Drew Allar on 18 carries last season. Penn State's coaching staff has hailed the 6-foot-5, 243-pound sophomore as a better runner than some might think. "He's hard to bring down," Yurcich told ESPN recently. "You need three arms on him, at least." PERSONNEL POSITION COACH Mike Yurcich: Entering Year 3 of his tenure in State College, Yurcich has the Nittany Lions trending in the right direction. Penn State made improvements in most of the major statistical areas in his second season as offensive coordinator. The Nittany Lions finished 34th in the FBS in total offense (433.6 yards per game) and 20th in scoring offense (35.8 points per game) last fall, improving 48 spots in the former category over the previous year and 70 in the latter. The team's passing average declined, but that was mostly because a reinvigorated ground game meant that PSU didn't have to rely so heavily on Sean Clifford's arm. After ranking 118th in the FBS in rushing offense in 2021 with an average of 107.8 yards per game, the Lions improved to 45th last year (181.1). Yurcich, a native of Euclid, Ohio, has been successful at every step of his coaching career, starting with a four-year tenure at Saint Francis (Ind.) and continuing with stops at Edinboro and Shippensburg before making the quantum leap to the Power Five level when he took over the offense at Oklahoma State in 2013. He spent six seasons with the Cowboys, during which they averaged 38.0 points and 478.3 yards per game. One-year stints at Texas and Ohio State fol- lowed, and in 2021 he was hired to replace Kirk Ciarrocca as offensive coordinator at Penn State. RETURNING SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS DREW ALLAR So. | 6-5 | 243 • Completed 35 of 60 passes (58 percent) for 344 yards, with 4 touchdowns and no inter- ceptions, while playing in 10 games as a true freshman in 2022. • Was named Ohio's Mr. Football for his perfor- mance as a senior at Medina High in 2021. • Rated among the best prospects in the class of 2022 according to the On3 Industry Rank- ing, finishing as the No. 28 overall player and No. 3 quarterback in the cycle. • Led Medina to a 13-1 record as a senior, com- pleting 305 of 511 passes for 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns. BEAU PRIBULA R-Fr. | 6-2 | 206 • Played for both teams in the Blue-White Game this past April, combining to complete 10 of 27 passes for 92 yards, with no touch- downs and 1 interception. • Did not see game action during the 2022 sea- son, preserving his freshman eligibility. • Finished as the 26th-ranked quarterback in the class of 2022 according to the On3 Indus- try Ranking 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. NEWCOMER JAXON SMOLIK Fr. | 6-1 | 205 • Enrolled in January and made his Penn State debut in the Blue-White Game, at- tempting 1 pass (an incompletion) while carrying once for an 11-yard loss. • Was a three-star prospect in the On3 In- dustry Ranking, as well as the No. 37 quar- terback in the cycle and No. 7 prospect in Iowa. • Led Dowling Catholic in Van Meter, Iowa, to a 10-2 record as a senior, completing 64 percent of his passing attempts for 1,967 yards and 19 touchdowns. • Earned Class 5A all-state honors as a senior and served as a team captain. Under coordinator Mike Yurcich, Penn State improved from 25 points per game in 2021 to 35.8 last season. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE