Some Penn State football fans have already called for starting quarterback Rocco Becht to be benched just five games into the season.

While that’s unlikely so early in the year, if Becht were benched, who would start at quarterback for Penn State?

The answer: Alex Manske.

The 20-year-old redshirt freshman from Algona, Iowa, followed Matt Campbell to Penn State alongside Rocco Becht and many others from Iowa State.

While Manske hasn’t seen much action in Happy Valley yet, he’s already had quite a journey to get here.

Manske played three games at Iowa State in 2025, completing 4-of-5 passes for 28 yards and rushing for 33 yards on seven carries. Since transferring, Manske has also played three games for the Nittany Lions, connecting on nine passes for 102 yards and rushing three times for 14 yards.

Before college, Manske was one of Iowa’s top quarterback prospects. He was a finalist for the 2024 Elite 11 and earned Iowa Print Sports Writers Association (IPSWA) All-State honors three times.

He finished his high school career with 4,933 passing yards and 49 touchdowns, along with 1,414 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns. Manske was rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 2 prospect in Iowa. Manske also played baseball, basketball, and golf, and competed in track and field before college.

Manske’s path to Penn State took an unexpected turn when a routine medical test revealed a potentially career-altering condition.

After arriving at Penn State, Manske went through the team’s standard medical screening, including an echocardiogram. Iowa State doesn’t do this test, and it involves an ultrasound of the heart.

When the results came back, someone pulled Manske aside and shared some unexpected news. He was diagnosed with a dilated aortic root and a dilated ascending aorta, conditions that increased his risk of an aneurysm or rupture and meant he would need open-heart surgery.

“I had zero symptoms before then. And I never felt like I’d get out of breath easily or anything like that,” Manske told reporters about the diagnosis.

Even with a thorough plan, Manske wasn’t sure what the diagnosis meant for his football career.

Manske was sent to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he underwent open-heart surgery on March 16. After being released from the hospital, he completed his cardiac rehabilitation in Iowa before returning to State College just a month after surgery.

By June, Manske was back on the field throwing.

His recovery was impressive enough that Campbell told reporters Manske was “playing as good of football in the last two days as we’ve witnessed Alex Manske play his entire career.”

Since then, Manske has continued practicing and has played in three games for Penn State.

So, if Becht were to come off the field as fans demand, Manske would be the next quarterback in line, but there’s much more to his story than being Penn State’s No. 2 quarterback.