Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541276
3 0 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M his senior season at Olentangy High. He led the Braves to an 11-2 record and set school single-season records for pass- ing yards (3,517) and touchdowns (39). When he signed with the Nittany Li- ons, he was viewed as a contender for the starting job in 2026, by which time Allar would be out of eligibility. With Allar and Pribula both gone, he'll be an overwhelming favorite for the job next year if he sticks around. And he'll have more starting experience than he could have ever imagined. Balancing the present and the future is never easy for college football play- ers. Doing it under the circumstances that Penn State finds itself facing in the final weeks of the 2025 season is even more difficult. But so far, Grunkemeyer is handling the situation as best he can. "It can be tough," he admitted. "There's definitely a lot of outside noise here and there. But I think the main thing is, I've got to go out there and do my best to win games. At the end of the day, that's going to be what helps this program the most. What can we do to win this game this week? "I think our team does a really good job of keeping that focus. Some schools in this position maybe wouldn't have that same mindset. I think that having the locker room that we do, how tight we are together, keeps everyone level- headed. And if anyone would get out of line, we have guys who would check that and say, 'Hey, this is our focus. This is what we need to do this week.'" Playing a position that requires him to display leadership, Grunkemeyer is now tasked with helping deliver that mes- sage. At least one teammate has noticed the impressive growth he's shown in his short time running the Nittany Lions' offense. "He's really stepped up vocally," red- shirt senior linebacker Dominic DeLuca said. "That was a huge step for him to have that voice that is heard by everyone." The question now, of course, is whether an offense that is outside of the top 100 nationally can improve enough to turn around a season that began go- ing awry with a double-overtime loss to Oregon in late September. There has been considerable talk in recent weeks about getting the vertical passing game going. The Nittany Lions finally started to do that in the second half of their 27-24 loss to Indiana, making good on a vow that Smith had issued before the game against the second-ranked Hoo- siers. "It's my job to make sure it gets changed," Smith said. "It will get changed. I'm talking with the offen- sive staff. We're going to push the ball a little bit further down the field. The stat that's running around [after the Ohio State game] is that we had 102 [yards after the catch] from the game, and 145 or so total, which means the ball is still going horizontally. An ankle injury against Northwestern ended Drew Allar's season, but the senior quarterback was on hand in Columbus to support Grunkemeyer against Ohio State. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS