Penn State’s high-stakes backup QB competition could shape program’s future

Drew Allar has one year left at Penn State, and it’s a pretty big year. The Nittany Lions are among the favorites to win the national title, and Allar, one of the best and most experienced quarterbacks in the country, is a primary reason why they’re held in such high regard.

In an ideal world, Allar will stay healthy for all 12 regular-season games and, possibly, a lengthy College Football Playoff run after that. But injuries happen. That played out last year, when backup Beau Pribula had to step in and win on the road at Wisconsin.

Pribula is at Missouri now. That means Ethan Grunkemeyer or Jaxon Smolik will back up Allar this fall, and whoever wins could have an inside track at the starting role in 2026.

“This thing is, I think, going to go right down to the wire,” James Franklin said last Saturday, when asked if it was necessary for a backup QB to be decided by Week 1. “If it finishes up like it did in the spring, it could continue throughout the entire year if it’s close. If there’s a gap, there’s a gap. But if it’s close, I think the competition could go throughout the year. Whoever has the best week that week is going to be the backup quarterback type of deal.”

Then, later in his answer, Franklin dropped this: “To be honest with you, if it’s close all season, it could go into next year in terms of how this thing plays out.”

Franklin is keeping his options open after a hotly-contested competition in the spring between Smolik and Grunkemeyer. The season opener is less than a month away, but Penn State has a few weeks of fall camp before a trio of games that — with all due respect to Nevada, FIU and Villanova — can be treated as preseason games.

Grunkemeyer and Smolik will get plenty of work in camp. And assuming Allar and the Nittany Lions take care of business in the first halves of those first three games, they should see plenty of work in September, too.

How Grunkemeyer and Smolik perform during camp and beyond will have repercussions as Penn State considers life without Allar in 2026, even if neither is allowing himself to think that far in the future.

“I just try to stay in the moment and control the things I can control,” Smolik said.

Added Grunkenmeyer: “I can’t really worry about next year. Because if you look too far ahead, you’re going to overlook something today.”

After spring camp, both quarterbacks earned high praise from coaches and teammates. Both played well in extended action during the Blue-White spring game. Both have starter-caliber qualities.

Grunkemeyer, one of the top recruits in the 2024 cycle, can spin it. But as a freshman, the mental side of things was a focus as he learned Kotelnicki’s offense. That was accelerated when Pribula entered the transfer portal before the CFP and Smolik, out with a long-term injury suffered in the offseason, was forced to watch on the sideline.

Grunkemeyer said that experience — having to prepare for a CFP semifinal like he was the starter in case Allar went down — was “super helpful.” It allowed him to continue to get more comfortable, not only with Kotelnicki’s system, but the college game at large.

Some thought, given how last season ended, that Grunkemeyer was the nailed-on backup in 2025 and the heir apparent in 2026. But Smolik changed that conversation.

Smolik, now a redshirt sophomore, impressed after returning from his injury. Franklin has said numerous times that he thought Smolik would come back “rusty” but was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t. Asked if he surprised himself, Smolik said, “Not really, no.”

Smolik was confident after spending last fall studying Kotelnicki’s scheme. He made sure he knew the playbook “like the backside of your hand to really slow down the mental part so the physical part can speed up.” And when he was physically ready in the spring, Smolik proved he was a capable adversary to Grunkemeyer.

Not that Smolik and Grunkemeyer consider themselves true rivals. Both called the QB2 competition “really fun.” They help each other, if needed, and don’t think it’s weird to be friends while going after the same thing.

But sooner or later, Franklin and his staff will pick one over the other. That might come later this month. That might not come until 2026. And don’t expect Franklin to tip his hand until he needs to.

Penn State would love to have Grunkemeyer and Smolik compete for the starting job next season with 2025 signee Bekkem Kritza and 2026 commit Troy Huhn in reserve. But Franklin and his staff have to do everything they can to balance the backup competition and what’s best for the team in 2025 with the possibility of Smolik or Grunkemeyer entering the portal after the season ends. It’s a tricky tight-rope to walk.

Whoever wins out will have earned it, Allar said.

“They’re going to do a great job, whenever that time is,” Allar said. “They’re two of the hardest workers on the team. So I can’t wait to see when it’s their time.”