Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1519242
2 6 M A Y 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State football fans hoping to see the full Andy Kotelnicki offense on display during the Blue-White Game might have left Beaver Stadium, or their couch, feeling a little bit under- whelmed. Reluctant to reveal anything during the annual spring scrimmage that future opponents might be able to use to their advantage, PSU didn't exactly offer a sneak preview of its 2024 season. Still, it's not as if we didn't learn any- thing this spring about how the Nittany Lions are shaping up in their first sea- son with Kotelnicki coordinating their offense. Far from it, in fact. Here's a look at what we found out during the team's offseason drills: Quarterback The Lions suffered a setback here, with redshirt freshman backup Jaxon Smolik having suffered what coach James Frank- lin described as a "significant" injury this spring. Franklin didn't offer a timetable for Smolik's return, but the mere fact that he acknowledged the injury publicly is a sign that the former three-star prospect from Van Meter, Iowa, won't be back in action anytime soon. Smolik's loss all but assures that Janu- ary enrollee Ethan Grunkemeyer will be- gin the fall as Penn State's third-string quarterback. The four-star prospect from Lewis Center, Ohio, made his debut in the Blue-White Game, completing 4 of 8 passes for 11 yards. Penn State would no doubt prefer to redshirt Grunkemeyer this season, so bar- ring another injury at the position, we'll be seeing junior Drew Allar and redshirt sophomore Beau Pribula taking virtually all of the snaps in the fall. Both won praise from Kotelnicki throughout spring drills. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Lions' offseason practices is that they are planning to use more designed runs for Allar this coming season than they did in his first year as a starter. In addition, Penn State appears set to make more use of Pribula than it did a year ago when he had 56 rushes and 21 passing attempts in 11 games. Running Back Junior Kaytron Allen missed time this spring due to an undisclosed injury. Junior Nicholas Singleton was banged up during the last week of spring practice and sat out the Blue-White Game. Neither injury should be a concern moving forward. The duo will continue to be the lead backs for Penn State, and they're aiming to have their biggest seasons yet. That is not new. What is new is the fascinating battle for the third-team running back role. Cam Wallace, a hard-charging redshirt fresh- man who is quicker than you might ex- pect based on his 5-foot-9, 199-pound build, took the job from classmate London Montgomery, who has not bulked up as expected. But Wallace cannot rest on his laurels in preseason camp because January enrollee Quinton Martin Jr. is right on his heels. The speedy freshman scored on runs of 9 Hidden Agenda Penn State chooses not to overshare while it works to revamp its offense this spring GREG PICKEL | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Backup quarterback Beau Pribula figures to be a bigger part of Penn State's offensive attack in 2024 than he was as a redshirt freshman last fall. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL