SMU week is finally here.

Penn State football will host the Mustangs (or the Ponies?) in just a few days’ time, meaning media had a chance to pick James Franklin’s brain ahead of Saturday’s game.

Despite his best efforts to direct the conversation toward on-field issues, Franklin spent plenty of time discussing news regarding two of his quarterbacks and one of his coordinators.

On Beau Pribula Entering The Transfer Portal

Penn State’s backup quarterback, Beau Pribula, announced he would enter the transfer portal on Sunday night. After three years with the Nittany Lions, Pribula departed the team less than a week before the playoffs, even after he was at Penn State’s practice on Sunday.

Franklin, among others, took the time to give Pribula his support after the decision and spoke at length about the difficulties Pribula faced.

“I think Beau felt like he was going to have a hard time finishing school, finding a place that he wanted to go to, and still preparing like the starter, like he had been doing all year long,” Franklin said.

“Then the other thing was, he was getting pressure to go on visits and go see these places. So I think it’s one of these things, like a lot of things, in theory, that sounds good. But when you actually talk through how it’s actually going to work, it’s hard to do that. It’s hard to say you’re preparing to be the starter… I feel like at the end of the day, I don’t feel like Beau felt like he could do those things to the level he needed to. He was out at practice yesterday, and I could tell he was distracted by all of this.”

Pribula reportedly filed the paperwork necessary to enter the portal on Monday. Penn State’s procedure in Pribula’s instance, Franklin said, is that he’s no longer with the team and will not receive any of the benefits that come with being a Penn State player.

On Drew Allar’s Return In 2025

Hours after Pribula announced his decision to hit the portal, starting quarterback Drew Allar announced he will return to the Nittany Lions in 2025.

Allar said his decision was football-based and that it was important for him to decide before the playoffs whether or not to come back for his senior year.

“It was a football decision, and that’s how I always have been operating. Me and my family had extensive talks about it and everything, weighed everything,” Allar said. “And personally, I came to the conclusion myself that I felt like it was best for my future and that sort of thing. But honestly, I’m glad I got this out of the way because I’m totally focused on SMU.”

Franklin backed up Allar’s decision, which set Franklin up to have a Heisman Trophy favorite leading his team in a year.

“Drew has been phenomenal. Mom and dad have been phenomenal,” Franklin said. “I’ve had a ton of conversations. And obviously, he’s doing a ton of really good things and he’s developing, and he’s getting better and he’s playing great, and he’s leading. I think there’s a lot of excitement because I think they believe, and we believe, there’s still a lot of room for growth and development. We want to be a part of that. And I think they trust us in that. 

“Obviously, there’s been a ton of conversations with NFL GMs and scouts to be able to provide NFL reports and information to our players of where they’re at and what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are, and how we take that information, make a decision, and then spend, once the season is over, time attacking those things that people consider weaknesses.”

On Preparing For SMU Without Pribula

Without Pribula, Penn State won’t be able to use its two-quarterback package it’s flashed so often this year against SMU on Saturday. While Franklin wasn’t thrilled that game preparation for the Mustangs got a little easier, he said the Nittany Lions can find ways to get creative with the players still on the roster.

“We’re going to continue to do that with different pieces of the puzzle. I think it’s been too important to what we’ve been doing. We don’t want to go away from that,” Franklin said. “Whether it’s guys that have been playing already and putting a little bit more on their plate with those specific roles or whether it’s guys that haven’t played to this point, like in games and things like that.”

Franklin also expressed confidence in players from his developmental squad, highlighting quarterbacks Ethan Grunkemeyer and Jaxon Smolik. While Franklin said both players are part of discussions surrounding Saturday’s game, Allar confirmed Grunkemeyer has taken over the role as the backup quarterback.

Smolik spent most of the 2024 season away from practice after picking up a long-term injury in March. Grunkemeyer has played in around 350 live reps in practice, per Franklin’s estimation.

On Andy Kotelnicki Returning In 2025

For a moment in the week after the Oregon game, reports swirled that offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki would take a role as the head coach at West Virginia. However, Kotelnicki declared on Twitter that he’d remain with Penn State, a move that reportedly came after West Virginia wanted Kotelnicki to take over before the playoffs.

After turnover in all three coordinator roles a year prior, Franklin expressed his gratitude for keeping his staff intact.

“Consistency on our staff is really important but hard to do in the current college football landscape,” Franklin said. “So, obviously, being able to retain staff and specifically the coordinator positions is really important. I think about how hard we worked this offseason to make sure that having three new coordinators wasn’t going to create more challenges and be a setback for us, and I think we’ve done a good job of that. 

“But I think there’s also an excitement about what we can do moving forward, thinking about what we had to do this offseason. Now, we have a foundation to build on. I think there’s a lot of excitement about that.”

Franklin emphasized that not all head coaching jobs are the right fit for every coach and that Penn State’s athletic administrators fight to make sure the football coaching staff stays in place.

“That decision was big for a lot of reasons. It’s big because you don’t want to be dealing with this during a playoff run,” Franklin said. “You don’t want to be dealing with this when you’ve got players deciding what their futures are. Obviously, these men and women impact that too. So for a lot of reasons, it’s been good.”