James Franklin hints at using Penn State QB Beau Pribula more: ‘He’s a weapon’

If you were told that Beau Pribula would be in the game with 13 minutes left against Iowa, the natural reaction would have been: What happened to Drew Allar?

But last Saturday wasn’t a repeat of the 2021 debacle in Iowa City. Allar was healthy when he ceded the field to Pribula to see out a blowout win over the Hawkeyes.

It was another useful experience for Pribula, Penn State’s redshirt freshman backup quarterback. The former Central York star logged 15 snaps, bringing his season total to 67 snaps over the course of four games, according to Pro Football Focus.

Pribula has looked sharp whenever he’s been afforded the opportunity. His 166 rushing yards ranks third on the team behind Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. He’s chipped in a couple of rushing touchdowns and several first downs along the way.

Coach James Franklin has been “very intentional” about getting Pribula as many reps as possible so he’s prepared if anything were to happen to Allar. But Franklin said at his Tuesday news conference that he wants to get Pribula even more work moving forward.

“Right now, he’s being used primarily as a runner. But we feel like we can run the whole offense with him,” Franklin said. “… He’s getting it in practice a lot, obviously, and I think it’s been really good. But we want to continue to develop that. And then there’s a place for getting him in situationally throughout the game, as well. Maybe it’s in the red zone or maybe on third down or maybe as a changeup.”

Franklin acknowledged that one of those changeup plays was dialed up for Pribula earlier in the game against Iowa. Franklin “vetoed” it coming out of a timeout at the last minute. But that decision isn’t indicative of how much faith Penn State has in him.

“He’s got a bigger package than what you’ve seen to this point. I’ve been pleased with him,” Franklin said. “I know talking to our defensive coaches and talking to some of our analysts, we feel like he’s a weapon that defensive coordinators and head coaches are spending time on. He’s just being used right now at the end of the game. But you’ve seen enough of him that everybody knows at some point you’re going to have to be prepared for him during regular time. I think it’s been good, and he’s been good.”

Perhaps we’ll see one of those exotic looks at Northwestern this weekend.