Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1524108
A U G U S T 2 0 2 4 3 9 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 / / / / / / / PERSONNEL POSITION COACH Danny O'Brien: In a first for Penn State, a grad- uate assistant will serve as the full-time leader of a position room. O'Brien joined James Frank- lin's staff as an analyst in March 2021 and then moved into a graduate assistant role last season so that he could take a hands-on approach with the Nittany Lion quarterbacks. O'Brien is not one of the team's 10 full-time assistant coaches, but he is running the meetings for Drew Allar and company on a day-to-day basis, with input from Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. Penn State wants O'Brien to act like he is one of the 10, and the Lions want current players and recruits to feel that way, too. "The biggest difference now is just running the room on a day-to-day basis by myself," O'Brien told The Athletic in March. "It's some- thing that I've been working hard to be ready for whenever that time came. It's been really fun and a really good chal- lenge. Having a bigger voice in the staff room and being able to voice things from a quarterback's perspective has been really fun. Coach K is so great at letting everyone share ideas and getting to the best thing collectively. I've learned a ton." O'Brien, 33, is a Minneapolis native. He played at Maryland from 2009-11, overlapping with Franklin during his first two seasons when the future Nittany Lion head coach was the Terps' offensive coordinator. O'Brien was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2010 and went on to win a Grey Cup with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League in 2016. He got into coaching with the BC Lions, serving as an analyst for the CFL team in 2020 before leaving to take a similar role at Penn State the following year. Now, he's in charge of the quarterbacks room in State College. "He's meant a ton [to me]," Allar said last December. "He brings a lot of value to our quarterback room because he's played it in college and in the CFL. He has a lot of experience. Since he's on the younger side of coaching, he's able to re- late to us really easily, and he knows how we feel as quarterbacks. I think we all see the game the same way." RETURNING SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS DREW ALLAR Jr. | 6-5 | 238 • Threw for 2,631 yards with 25 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions in 2023 while completing 59.9 percent of his passes. Also rushed for 210 yards and scored 4 times. • Threw for a season-high 325 yards and 3 touchdowns against West Virginia in his first career start. • 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 performance 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, completing 305 of 511 passes for 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns. BEAU PRIBULA R-So. | 6-2 | 207 • Completed 11 of 21 passes (52.4 percent) for 149 yards, 4 touchdowns and no intercep- tions during a redshirt freshman season in which he was mostly used in the run game, totaling 329 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground. • Did not see game action during the 2022 sea- son, preserving his freshman eligibility. • Finished as the 25th-ranked quarterback in the class of 2022 and was 13th among all prospects in Pennsylvania, per the On3 Indus- try Ranking. • Won first-team all-state honors following his junior and senior seasons at Central York High. JAXON SMOLIK So. | 6-1 | 204 • Suffered an undisclosed injury in spring prac- tice, prompting James Franklin to say that he will miss "significant time." • Appeared in one game during the 2023 sea- son, preserving his freshman eligibility. • Enrolled in January 2023 and made his Penn State debut in the Blue-White Game, attempting 1 pass (an incompletion) while carrying once for an 11-yard loss. • Was a three-star prospect in the On3 Indus- try Ranking, as well as the No. 36 quarter- back in the 2023 cycle and No. 7 prospect in Iowa. • Led Dowling Catholic in Van Meter, Iowa, to a 10-2 record as a senior, completing 64 per- cent 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. NEWCOMER ETHAN GRUNKEMEYER Fr. | 6-2 | 207 • Enrolled in January and made his PSU debut in the Blue-White Game, attempting 4 passes for 8 yards while throwing an interception. • Was a four-star prospect in the On3 Industry Ranking, as well as the No. 108 overall player, No. 9 quarterback and No. 4 prospect in Ohio. • Led Olentangy High in Lewis Center, Ohio, to an 11-2 record as a senior, completing 66 per- cent of his passing attempts for 3,517 yards and 39 touchdowns. • Was a team captain in 2023. Competed at the Elite 11 Finals before his senior season. • Named Ohio's Co-Offensive Player of the Year in 2023. January enrollee Ethan Grunkemeyer made his Penn State debut in the Blue-White Game this past April, completing 4 of 8 passes for 11 yards. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL