Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544053
2 2 A P R I L 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Becht to the Lions' hopes of contending for the College Football Playoff this year. He played in 42 games during his four- year tenure in Ames, which is 39 more Division I contests than the rest of Penn State's quarterbacks put together. Even if Becht does make an appearance, the spring game is going to be a showcase for the backups. Redshirt freshman Alex Manske ap- pears to be the leading candidate for the QB2 job. He's a former four-star pros- pect who enrolled early at Iowa State but ended up missing most of spring practice with a lingering elbow injury he suffered during his senior year at Algona (Iowa) High. Manske got into three games for the Cyclones last fall, seeing action on 30 snaps and completing 4 of 5 passes for 28 yards. "The growth was incredible," quarter- backs coach Jake Waters said. "He took his lumps, just like any freshman would. But just learning how to be a college quar- terback is where he grew the most from fall camp into the season. How do I read a defense? How do I get through progressions faster? My footwork? Every decision we make is so critical. Now I've got to play like that, and I've got to know and understand when I can take a chance, when I can't, situational football. "He grew a lot, but those would be the areas where he needs to continue to grow, because he hasn't played a lot of foot- ball. He went through a season, but he's learned from Rocco, a guy who's done it a lot." Manske's primary challenger for the job figures to be senior Connor Barry, who threw for 5,561 yards and 55 touchdowns in three seasons at Christopher Newport University. Yes, it's a Division III school, but Barry started his college career at Ap- palachian State before transferring. As he told BWI prior to his visit to State Col- lege in January, "They're looking for me to compete for the backup job." The Lions have two other scholarship quarterbacks in Kase Evans and Peyton Falzone, but both are true freshmen. They also have a walk-on in Jack Lambert, the only quarterback from last year's roster to return in 2026. A redshirt junior from Hampstead, N.C., Lambert has yet to see game action for the Nittany Lions, but he has been a part of the program since 2023 and knows the football environment at PSU. Campbell is aiming to give everyone else a glimpse of what that looks like. "For us to be able to be out in that stadium with our fans before we play a [regular-season] game is absolutely criti- cally important," Campbell said. "We will certainly do something. What that will look like probably will be based a lot on our health, where we're at at that point, and then making sure we do a great job of getting out there and getting great work in, no matter what it is. We've got to make sure we get value out of that 15th prac- tice." A Sneak Preview For much of its recent history, the Blue- White Game has been held grudgingly by coaching staffs that would have preferred to conduct their final practice behind closed doors. Bill O'Brien floated a few trial balloons about revamping it, at minimum, not- ing that the sanction-depleted Lions couldn't afford to risk injuries by playing a real intrasquad game. When starting tailback Zach Zwinak broke his wrist in the 2013 game, it seemingly validated all of O'Brien's complaints. "We cannot get our best players hurt in the Blue-White Game," the second- year coach fumed in his postgame press conference. "That's how you get labeled a dumb coach." James Franklin had similar reserva- tions. The sanctions were long gone by the latter stages of his tenure at PSU, but the potential for roster upheaval was, if anything, even greater, thanks to the ad- vent of the transfer portal. A number of prominent teams, including Nebraska, Texas, Florida State and NC State, can- celed their spring games last year. Some were concerned that they were giving opponents an opportunity to see which players they should try to poach when the spring transfer window opened. That's not going to be an issue this year with the NCAA axing the spring window. The elimination of late trans- fers means that teams are going to re- main pretty much intact from the end of spring drills to the start of preseason practice. What kind of team does Penn State have this year? Perhaps better than some may have assumed when the pro- gram was fumbling its way through a protracted coaching search last fall. De- spite all the changes they've undergone over the past four months, the Lions are starting to garner attention as a team that could surprise in 2026. The Bet- MGM sportsbook has set the over/un- der for Penn State at 9.5 wins this fall, which would put it on the brink of CFP contention. Likewise, ESPN writer Mark Schlabach predicted the Lions would have a chance to be the nation's most improved team after last year's 7-6 fin- ish, noting that they "could be poised for a big turnaround in Happy Valley." Unlike in past years when it was more popular with the chamber of commerce than with the coaching staff, this year's Blue-White Game could actually help the Nittany Lions meet those expecta- tions. At the very least, it will provide the team's new players with an idea of Quarterback Alex Manske saw action in three games at Iowa State as a true freshman. He will be vying for Penn State's backup quarterback job behind Rocco Becht this fall. PHOTO COURTESY IOWA STATE ATHLETICS