Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1519242
M A Y 2 0 2 4 5 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M C ollege football's transfer portal is open again, swallowing up players and then disgorging them days or weeks later at some new school. Like every Power Four program that aims to compete at a high level, Penn State will be participating in this process, hop- ing to gain more than it loses by the time the spring transfer window closes on April 30. Since the portal was inaugurated in Oc- tober 2018, the Nittany Lions have made some very good acquisitions, among them All-Big Ten defensive ends Arnold Ebike- tie and Chop Robinson, current Baltimore Ravens punter Jordan Stout, and multiyear starters like cornerback Johnny Dixon and offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad. And yet, PSU's first big transfer of the portal era was a subtraction, not an addi- tion. On April 17, 2019, fifth-year senior quarterback Tommy Stevens announced he was leaving the program after spend- ing the previous three seasons as Trace McSorley's backup. At the time, the move stunned even the most seasoned observers of the Penn State football team. In retro- spect, it looks even more consequential. Stevens' decision set in motion a chain of events that altered the future of two other quarterbacks, three major-college football programs and at least one NFL franchise. 'We Wanted It To Work' There had been no rumblings that Ste- vens was dissatisfied heading into the 2019 Blue-White Game. Yes, his com- petitor for the starting position, redshirt sophomore Sean Clifford, had gotten most of the snaps in spring practice, but that was primarily because Stevens was re- covering from surgery to repair an undis- closed injury he had suffered the previous fall. Once he was healthy again, the consen- sus among PSU watchers was that Stevens would claim the starting job in his final season after paying his dues as McSorley's understudy. Stevens didn't play in the Blue-White Game. Clifford and redshirt freshman backup Will Levis took all the snaps for the Blue team, combining to go 15-of-26 for 204 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 24-7 win. After the game, coach James Franklin was asked about the battle to fill the va- cant starting quarterback position. As is his habit, Franklin was noncommittal. "We want to be able to name the starter as soon as we possibly can, but we are not ready to do that right now. It's going to need to be more of a true competition," he said "Our coaching staff has all the be- lief in the world in Tommy. Our coaching staff understands what Tommy has done and who he can be, but we also have be- lief in the other guys, and we've created a real good competition in our quarterbacks room." Franklin's view when it comes to inter- nal competition is that there are rarely any drawbacks to letting a position battle play out, even if everybody thinks they know how it's going to end. This time, however, that approach backfired. Stevens had just one season left in which to prove he was a pro-caliber A FAREWELL TO ARMS Tommy Stevens' surprise exit shook up Penn State's quarterback race at the dawn of the portal era M A T T H E R B | M A T T . H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Tommy Stevens appeared poised to claim Penn State's starting quarterback spot in 2019 but decided after spring prac- tice to enter the transfer portal instead. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL