How will QB Beau Pribula's ‘elite athleticism’ be utilized in Penn State’s new offense?

There’s strong belief within the Lasch Building that Andy Kotelnicki and his creative scheme will reinvigorate a Penn State offense that became stale and, at times, ineffective last year.

Drew Allar had a “good, but not good enough” first season as the starting quarterback. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen weren’t put in a position to succeed. The Nittany Lions failed against Ohio State and Michigan. There’s a reason why James Franklin fired Mike Yurcich and hired Kotelnicki to replace him as the coordinator. Even with a major question mark at wide receiver, there are enough pieces for Kotelnicki to engineer a more explosive offense.

One of those pieces is Beau Pribula.

Pribula, Allar’s quick and versatile backup quarterback, racked up some nice stats last season. He rushed for 329 yards and six touchdowns, good for third on the team behind Allen and Singleton. He also threw for 149 yards and four touchdowns. But Pribula, at least before Yurcich was fired, mostly entered the game in garbage time when it was already out of reach.

All signs point to that changing in 2024 with Kotelnicki directing Penn State’s offense. Allar will still be the starter, but Kotelnicki utilized two quarterbacks in his time at Kansas to great effect. And Kotelnicki, who emphasizes putting the ball in the hands of his best athletes, recognizes Pribula as one of those athletes.

“Beau has some elite athleticism, and you have to tap into that,” Kotelnicki said at last week’s media day. He noted Pribula’s change of direction, specifically, is “elite” and in the top 1% of college quarterbacks. “When you have an elite athlete, you have him do athletic things.”

“Do athletic things” is pretty broad. But that makes sense in August. It doesn’t help Kotelnicki or the Nittany Lions to divulge exactly how they’re going to use Pribula. It does, however, help the former Central York star to know he has a place in Kotelnicki’s plans.

“Once I dove into the Kansas film, I was pretty excited,” Pribula said on the first day of preseason camp. “And it’s not just the film. When we utilized it in spring ball, installing the offense, his offense plays to my strengths. It’s something I fit into really well.”

What Pribula did last year was mostly vanilla. Read options, quarterback draws, etc. There were a couple outliers. Pribula had a touchdown pass to running back Trey Potts down the seam at Northwestern on a fake QB draw. And in the Peach Bowl, Penn State’s interim offensive coordinators called a rollout throwback to Singleton for a score.

What we didn’t see last year was a straight power or speed option. Judging by what he did at Kansas, that could change under Kotelnicki. Whether it was Jalon Daniels or Jason Bean — the former Jayhawks quarterback missed most of the 2023 season because of injury — Kotelnicki was unafraid to stretch the defense, put it in conflict and utilize a perimeter option. Sometimes the quarterbacks pitched it. Sometimes they kept it themselves for a big play.

Kotelnicki built off of it, too. In the fourth quarter of Kansas’ road win at Iowa State last year, Kotelnicki dialed up a fake speed option throw down the field. The Cyclones’ defense flooded toward the ball, leaving the seam wide open. Bean hit his man for an 80-yard score.

That example just scratches the surface of what Kotelnicki brings to the table for Pribula. He could line up with Allar and play running back. He might even contribute as a receiver. Remember Tommy Stevens? Joe Moorhead had some fun using him all over the field. Kotelnicki could do the same with Pribula.

It doesn’t stop at Pribula, either. You might even see Allar, who is certainly slower than Pribula but can still move a bit, run more than he did last season. Franklin hinted at that at media day.

“Some of the things we are going to do, you guys are going to look at and say, ‘I don’t know if that’s something I would imagine Drew doing,’” Franklin said. “But by him doing just enough of it creates opportunities for other things in our offense and makes us difficult to defend.”

A lot of times last season, the Nittany Lions weren’t difficult to defend. They were predictably rigid and unremarkable. They overwhelmed inferior competition by having more talent and stumbled against Ohio State and Michigan.

If Penn State is going to get over the hump this year — if it’s going to contend in the new Big Ten and reach the 12-team College Football Playoff — the offense will need to be more explosive. And by all accounts, it appears Pribula will be a part of that equation.