Rating Penn State's top 10 quarterbacks from the past 25 years

Twenty-five years into the 21st century, the Centre Daily Times put together a panel of Penn State beat writers to determine the Nittany Lions’ top 10 quarterbacks since 2000.

That panel is made up of Neil Rudel (Altoona Mirror), Rich Scarcella (Reading Eagle), Audrey Snyder (The Nittany Dispatch), Mark Brennan (Lions247), Mark Wogenrich (Penn State on SI), Frank Bodani (York Daily Record), Daniel Gallen (Lions247), Johnny McGonigal (PennLive), Josh Moyer (Centre Daily Times) and Jon Sauber (Centre Daily Times).

10. Rashard Casey

Years played: 2000

Passing stats: 2,001 yards, 14 touchdowns, 8 interceptions

Rushing stats: 315 yards, 5 touchdowns

Casey makes this list as the No. 10 quarterback on 8.5 of the ballots (one shared the 10 spot with him and Rob Bolden) with only one year as a starter. That’s largely because the Nittany Lions have had a high level of consistency year over year at the position, with only 11 quarterbacks getting consistent starter reps over the last 25 seasons. Casey’s case over Bolden is a fairly simple one: He was far better as a passer and a runner and was a team captain in 2000. His numbers might not jump off the page, but Casey also played in a very different era of football than the modern quarterbacks.

9. Anthony Morelli

Years played: 2004-07

Passing stats: 5,275 yards, 31 touchdowns, 19 interceptions

Rushing stats: -121 yards, 1 touchdown

Morelli arrived at Penn State as a highly touted five-star quarterback and ended up starting for two years and leading the Nittany Lions to nine wins each in 2006 and 2007. He was a team captain in his final season and is now 11th in program history in passing yards but was fifth in that category when he left campus in 2007. Morelli might not have ascended to some of the heights he was projected to based on his five-star status, but he was an above-average starter for two seasons with the Nittany Lions.

8. Zack Mills

Years played: 2001-04

Passing stats: 7,212 yards, 41 touchdowns, 39 interceptions

Rushing stats: 584 yards, 11 touchdowns

Mills was a four-year starter for the Nittany Lions and has the cumulative statistics to go with that fact. He’s fourth in Penn State history in passing yards, tied for seventh in career touchdown passes and eighth in career completion percentage. The former Nittany Lion also led the team to nine wins in 2002 — his most in a single season — in an era that included massive schematic struggles offensively for the group. He was an All-Big Ten honorable mention in that year, and, ultimately, that helped him land ahead of a few others on this list.

7. Matt McGloin

Years played: 2009-12

Passing stats: 6,390 yards, 46 touchdowns, 19 interceptions

Rushing stats: minus-57 yards, 7 touchdowns

There’s a clear jump up in the level of quarterback play from eight to seven, with McGloin reaching a level in 2012 that the previous three couldn’t get to. He started his career as a walk-on and ended it by winning the 2012 Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded to the best player who began their career as a walk-on. He excelled that season in Bill O’Brien’s first year as the program’s head coach, amassing 3,271 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and only five interceptions. McGloin’s play helped the team earn eight wins that year and ultimately finished with what is now the fifth-most passing yards (6,390) and passing touchdowns (46) in program history.

6. Christian Hackenberg

Years played: 2013-15

Passing stats: 8,457 yards, 48 touchdowns, 31 interceptions

Rushing stats: -242 yards, 1 touchdown

Hackenberg, like Morelli, arrived on campus as a five-star recruit but did so under much different circumstances. He spent the beginning of his career playing on a team that was sanctioned with scholarship reductions and a postseason ban, but was still able to find success. Hackenberg might not have been as prolific as some others — although he’s third in program history in passing yards — but he played on teams that had offensive lines that struggled with even the worst opponents. It’s hard not to think his career would have played out much differently had he had better protection up front in his time at Penn State.

5. Sean Clifford

Years played: 2018-22

Passing stats: 10,661 yards, 86 touchdowns, 31 interceptions

Rushing stats: 1,073 yards, 15 touchdowns

It might be odd that the program’s all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns and quarterback wins is only fifth on the list, but Clifford is still — unarguably — one of the most productive players the program has ever seen. His four years as a starter were bookended by two of the best seasons the program had at the time in the James Franklin era. Clifford led the team to a Cotton Bowl victory and 11 wins in 2019 before winning just as many games and the Rose Bowl in 2022. While the two years in between were more tumultuous, they were largely impacted by the covid-shortened season in 2020 and a large number of injuries in 2021. Clifford’s success will be attributed to longevity by some, but there’s no denying how well he played when he was at his best.

4. Drew Allar

Years played: 2022-present

Passing stats: 6,302 yards, 53 touchdowns, 10 interceptions

Rushing stats: 560 yards, 11 touchdowns

There’s a good chance that Allar will be three spots higher on this list if it’s done after the 2025 season. The senior quarterback already has helped lead Penn State to its first College Football Playoff appearance and a game away from playing for a national title, all while dealing with the same expectations that befell Morelli and Hackenberg as a five-star recruit. Allar is first in Penn State history in completion percentage, third in career passing touchdowns, sixth in passing yards and eighth in quarterback wins, and he has a chance to move up those lists in a major way this season. While he has been a two-time All-Big Ten honorable mention, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him as a first-teamer in 2025 and have us all looking back wishing we had voted him higher.

3. Daryll Clark

Years played: 2006-09

Passing stats: 5,742 yards, 43 touchdowns, 16 interceptions

Rushing stats: 619 yards, 22 touchdowns

Clark was a two-time first team All-Big Ten member in 2008 and 2009 and led the team to 11 wins in each of those seasons. He was highly effective as a passer and a runner in a time before teams properly used quarterbacks with the mobility he had. Clark was ahead of his time in that regard and still ranks second in program history in rushing touchdowns and seventh in rushing yards. Of course, he was a passer first, racking up enough yards and touchdowns to finish eighth and sixth in program history in those categories. While the cumulative numbers aren’t that of a top-three quarterback in the last quarterback century, the eye test certainly helps elevate his case.

2. Michael Robinson

Years played: 2002-05

Passing stats: 3,531 yards, 23 touchdowns, 21 interceptions

Rushing stats: 1,637 yards, 20 touchdowns

The stats don’t tell the full story with Robinson. He started his career as a utility player, lining up across the board on offense and making do of what he had thanks to an offensive staff that wasn’t able to properly utilize its best player. He still managed to make an impact where he could as a runner and receiver but didn’t take off until he was finally made the starting quarterback in 2005. That’s when he took the nation by storm, throwing for 2,350 yards and 17 touchdowns to 10 interceptions while also rushing for 806 yards and 11 touchdowns. Robinson was nearly impossible to bring down and was a battering ram for an offense that led the team to an 11-1 finish. His fifth-place Heisman Trophy finish makes him the only player on this list to make the top-five for the award.

1. Trace McSorley

Years played: 2015-2018

Passing stats: 9,899 yards, 77 touchdowns, 25 interceptions

Rushing stats: 1,697 yards, 30 touchdowns

McSorley was the obvious choice. He had the peak and the longevity to earn this spot, ranking second in career quarterback wins, passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense in Penn State history while also being first in passing yards and passing touchdowns for a single season in program history. The three-time All-Big Ten second-teamer also finished first in rushing yards by a QB and rushing touchdowns by a QB, giving him the resume of the best dual-threat quarterback in program history. And all of that is without even mentioning the Big Ten title he led the team to in 2016 and the upset win over Ohio State that same year, two events that changed the course of the program under James Franklin and put them on the trajectory to land players such as Allar to even further raise the program’s ceiling.