Beau Pribula or Drew Allar: What each QB brings to Penn State's offense

The footage from just after halftime of Penn State's game against Wisconsin last Saturday night captured quarterback Drew Allar throwing a pass and then shaking his head. Allar, who exited during the second quarter, reappeared from the locker room wearing a brace on his left knee but never seemed comfortable during an accelerated warmup before the second-half kickoff. He threw a pass, turned to a member of the Nittany Lions' coaching staff and shook his head in frustration. No matter how many times Allar flexed his knee on the sideline, desperately attempting to work out the kinks, the discomfort refused to subside.

With Allar unable to play, the offense was entrusted to backup quarterback Beau Pribula, a redshirt sophomore entering the most pressure-packed environment of his career. Not only had Pribula never logged more than 22 snaps in a game against a power-conference opponent — and he hadn't exceeded eight snaps against Big Ten opposition this season — but the Nittany Lions were also trailing, 10-7, in a difficult road environment at Camp Randall Stadium. They couldn't afford a loss to an unranked opponent the week before hosting No. 4 Ohio State in a game that will likely carry significant College Football Playoff ramifications.

Pribula delivered by completing 11 of 13 passes for 98 yards and one score while leading Penn State to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives. That became the central storyline in a comeback victory that extended the Nittany Lions' unblemished record to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten ahead of Saturday's highly anticipated visit from the Buckeyes (noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). And with Allar's status for the weekend still uncertain after head coach James Franklin described it as a game-time decision during both of his regularly scheduled media appearances, there's a chance Pribula fills the role of protagonist in Penn State's most important game of the season. 

It would be Pribula's first start since his senior year at York Central York High School in York, Pennsylvania, and he would be looking to supplant former Michigan State quarterback Tyler O'Connor as the last signal-caller to defeat Ohio State in his first career start, a mark that has stood since 2015.

"He's smart and he's mature, and he's extremely competitive," Franklin said of Pribula earlier this week. "He attacks it in every area: the weight room, the classroom, on the field. His teammates love him. He's just done everything kind of the right way. I think probably the thing that everybody talks about is his ability to make plays with his legs. I don't think there's anybody within our program that also doesn't believe he can do it with his arm, too."

A three-star recruit and the No. 29-ranked quarterback in the 2022 recruiting cycle, Pribula comes from a family of football players. His brother was a quarterback at Delaware and Sacred Heart. His father played at Shippensburg University. His uncle was a quarterback at USC. His grandfather was an All-American at West Chester. Pribula himself became the first player in Central York history to be a three-year captain and led the Panthers to consecutive undefeated regular seasons as a junior and senior, earning Player of the Year honors in Pennsylvania both times. He threw for 2,676 yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior while also rushing for 420 yards and nine additional scores. Rivals rated him as the No. 6 dual-threat quarterback prospect in the country behind Connor Weigman (Texas A&M), Gunner Stockton (Georgia), MJ Morris (North Carolina State), Nick Evers (Oklahoma) and Jacurri Brown (Miami, Fla.).

After redshirting as a true freshman in 2022, Pribula earned the backup job last season during Allar's first year atop the depth chart. He carved out a role as the more mobile, change-of-pace option who could execute designed quarterback runs and read-option plays under former offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, who was ultimately fired last November. 

Pribula averaged 12 snaps per game in 11 appearances last season and ran the ball more than 39% of the time, finishing the year with 329 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 56 attempts (5.9 yards per carry). When he did throw — which never happened more than four times in a game against Big Ten opponents — Pribula completed 11 of 21 passes (52.4%) for 149 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, though most of the aerial production came in mop-up duty when the outcomes of particular contests were already decided.

He has reprised a similar role in 2024 under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, formerly of Kansas, who had afforded Pribula nine snaps per game against power-conference opponents prior to Saturday's win over Wisconsin, some of which featured two quarterbacks on the field simultaneously. Pribula has completed 18 of 23 passes (78.3%) for 200 yards, three touchdowns and one interception this season with 133 rushing yards and one additional score on the ground. 

"I think when you're preparing for Drew and [opposing defenses know that] Beau will have his few plays that we sprinkle in there per quarter, that's difficult," Franklin said. "When kind of the game plan flips, right, and Beau is in there [after Allar got hurt], it changes it dramatically, I think, for the defense. That is difficult. Most people aren't built like that, right? Your quarterbacks are all similar-type guys. Ours are very different in a lot of ways."

Differences include both physical and stylistic contrasts between Allar and Pribula, with the former listed at a statuesque 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, while the latter is significantly smaller and leaner at 6-2, 206-pounds — a gulf that further accentuates Pribula's superior agility. There have been times in the past, Franklin said, when Penn State's offensive coordinators called plays for Pribula as if Allar were still in the game, a paradox that he believes improved Pribula's pocket presence and passing. But against the Badgers last weekend, when the coaching staff knew Allar wouldn't be returning to the lineup, Franklin instructed Kotelnicki to tailor the remaining play calls to Pribula's strengths rather than adhering to the original game plan built around a different kind of quarterback.

Still, the 13 passes Pribula attempted eclipsed his previous career high of nine and offered more of a window into what the Nittany Lions' offense might look like this weekend if Allar is unable to play. Only three of Pribula's throws traveled more than 10 yards downfield against a talented Wisconsin secondary, according to Pro Football Focus, in what felt like a clear departure from the uptick in vertical shots Penn State had been taking with Kotelnicki running the offense. 

Allar, meanwhile, had launched seven of his 18 passes more than 10 yards downfield in fewer than two quarters of playing time, completing four of them for 57 yards and a touchdown. Pribula finished 1-of-3 for 40 yards on similar vertical throws, though he was far more willing than Allar to rifle short and intermediate passes into traffic, at least two of which could have been intercepted.

How much the Penn State passing attack might change if the coaching staff has a full week to build the game plan around Pribula remains unclear, and Franklin said a decision about Allar's participation likely won't be made until kickoff at Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon. That saddles Ohio State with the unenviable challenge of preparing for two drastically different quarterbacks. 

"We'll prepare for both guys being healthy and ready to go," Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said earlier this week. "They both bring different things to the table. They're both very effective at what they do. We'll go based on what we've seen and what's on the film. But yeah, we have to know who's in the game."

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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