The situation is not exactly as Will Levis had anticipated.

The youngest quarterback on Penn State’s roster when he arrived 11 months ago, his succession to the starting job with the Nittany Lions appeared, on the surface, to be three or four years away.

But between the exhaustion of Trace McSorley’s eligibility and the sudden departure of fifth-year senior Tommy Stevens, Levis is entering the summer months with a new perspective. Poised to jostle with redshirt sophomore Sean Clifford, and early enrollees Ta’Quan Roberson and Michael Johnson, Jr., Levis’ goals are being fast-tracked.

“People might not believe me, but I believe it's open to anybody,” said Levis. “You don't want to approach it thinking you're at a specific spot and that's where you're going to be. In the summer, you want to approach it as if you are going to be that guy so that every day you come in thinking that's what you're working towards and that's what you want to see yourself as.”

Admittedly, even before Stevens’ decision to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal and eventually land at Mississippi State, Levis had already been doing as much.

Though he took a redshirt during the 2018 season, Levis found himself in a position to frequently earn extra reps during his Penn State tenure, be it with the scout team or in the place of an injured Stevens. And in fact, with Stevens sidelined for the spring, not to mention an illness to Clifford for a practice leaving Levis to helm the first team for a day, the work proved itself to be invaluable.

“It’s been awesome. Throughout the spring, it was kind of just like, when's Tommy gonna get back? When's Tommy gonna get back? Is he going to be healthy?” said Levis. “And I kind of just kept that in the back of my mind and didn't really think about it because I knew that every day I was out here and he wasn't playing that it was just more opportunities for me to get reps and stuff. I wanted to take advantage of that. So the spring was great.”

The end product of the experience now is a quarterback who believes himself capable of competing and succeeding on this stage, with the caliber of players Penn State boasts on both sides of the ball.

Those players, having played witness to Levis in action for nearly a full year, are convinced the same.

“Will Levis has one of the strongest arms I've ever seen in my life. Literally, we'll stand five yards apart and he's like, zoom,” said redshirt freshman wideout Justin Shorter. “But he's a great quarterback. He has the most confidence I've ever seen in anyone whenever he's on the field. So I feel like he's going to be able to help us out whenever he gets in the game.”

That opportunity, be it as the Nittany Lions starter this fall or otherwise, is one Levis is determined to make the most of whenever it presents itself.

Describing himself as capable of running the offense in the same form as McSorley played the past three seasons, Levis offered that his size, now listed at 6-foot-3, 234 pounds, and physicality as a runner are two attributes he believes can work to his advantage. His arm strength, now lauded for nearly a year by teammates and coaches, can also help the team. Said Levis, “Just as long as I make the throws and the right throws, that's all that matters.”

More than three months away from the start of Penn State’s 2019 campaign, that’s what Levis intends to spend his time doing.

Another personal benefit to Stevens’ departure, Levis is now in a position to take even more reps through the summer months. Wanting to take advantage of those much-needed practices and opportunity at further development, Levis’ situation might not have been expected, but it’s one of which he plans to make the most.

“I kind of wanted to approach everything as if I was the starting quarterback, but now that it's become a little more reality, it's really cool,” said Levis. “It was a surprise to me that Tommy was leaving, but it was a situation I couldn't really see coming. But yeah, the second year, in the running for the starting quarterback, it's something that I always thought I could have done, but now it's just a little more cool that it's become reality.”