In assessing QB depth, Franklin leaves door open for transfer addition
James Franklin's roster construction ideology isn't complicated. He wants to create as much competition as he possibly can at every position, whether that be for the startling role or further down the depth chart.
For Franklin's liking, there isn't enough of it at the quarterback position, where the Nittany Lions enter spring practice with just three scholarship players on their roster.
"You'd like to be at five scholarship quarterbacks all the time," Franklin said. "I think you can get away with four. Three gets a little dicey."
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Those three quarterbacks are Sean Clifford, Ta'Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux. Will Levis, who played a significant role in Penn State's offense last season — mostly as a rushing threat — transferred to Kentucky over the offseason, leaving Penn State a bit thin at the position for Franklin's liking.
Behind Clifford, who has earned the majority of the starts at quarterback for the Nittany Lions over the last two seasons, the collegiate experience at quarterback for Penn State amounts to four snaps taken by Roberson during the final game of last season.
These circumstances have left Franklin open to acquiring another signal caller through the transfer portal, he said Monday.
"There's some opportunities for us to still look into the transfer market from a competition standpoint, from a depth standpoint, from a lot of different perspectives," he said. "But it's got to be the right fit, and it's got to make sense from a lot of different levels.
"Obviously, come the end of spring, we'd like to have a pretty good idea of who our first-team, second-team and third team quarterbacks are. Then also what we need to do, whether it's the transfer portal or whatever we need, do we feel like we need to go out and bring another guy in?"
As for the quarterback depth currently wearing blue and white, Franklin said the objective in the spring and summer is to bring Roberson and Veilluex to the point where the Nittany Lions can insert them into a game and win with tem.
Roberson is a former four-star recruit who was unavailable at times due to a "medical situation" after Franklin said he had a "really good fall." Veilluex is a three-star recruit who arrived on campus in January. Both are still progressing.
"There's going to be a lot of time between now and next season for them to do that," Franklin said. "That's going to be the emphasis in meetings and practices and in scrummages and those types of things, I just want to see them taking steps every single day in how they go about their business."
The specific plan Franklin will employ as he hopes to progress the development of Roberson and Veilluex is unclear.
When asked whether Roberson would get any first-team reps under center during spring practice, Franklin was non-committal.
"We want to get all those guys reps," Franklin said. "It's all going to be based on how practice goes. If somebody puts themselves in a position to earn more reps with whatever group it is, then we'll look at that. But right now, we just want those guys all to go out there and have a chance to get better and build their own confidence, but also build the confidence of the coaching staff and their teammates that they're ready."
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