In season of unknowns, Penn State determined to have fully prepared QB room
Penn State’s emphasis on quarterback development was paramount before the arrival of COVID-19.
Enjoying an injury-free season at the position through an 8-0 start to the 2019 campaign, the Nittany Lions saw starter Sean Clifford endure a series of shots down the stretch that would eventually force him to the sidelines. Needing to call upon redshirt freshman Will Levis, the redshirt freshman appearing only sparingly in three games up to that point, the signal-caller would handle the majority of the quarterback duties through the final six quarters of the regular season.
Understanding the necessity of a well-prepared backup at the position, then, Penn State head coach James Franklin believes the constant threat of infection by the coronavirus, including the Big Ten’s mandatory 21-day timeout for those who test positive, presents yet another important reason to continue that quarterback development.
“You look right now with COVID, you better be doing a great job of developing depth,” Franklin said on the Penn State Coaches Show on Thursday evening. “Sean, I think, is comfortable right now. I think he's confident right now. Will Levis is extremely talented and getting more and more comfortable in the system and what he has to do to harness his power, specifically with his arm strength. And then Ta'Quan [Roberson], early on, I would say was still looking and playing like a young quarterback, figuring it out. But I really think over the last week and a half to two weeks, he's starting to come on right now.”
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Needing to rely on Levis at Ohio State last season, Clifford forced to the sidelines early in the second half, the Nittany Lions were able to mount a 17-0 run in the face of what’d been a 21-0 deficit to that point. Levis’ contributions proved vital, completing 6-of-11 passes for 57 yards with another 34 yards and a score tacked on as a rusher, serving as a jumping-off point to his first career start the next week.
A 27-6 win against Rutgers to close out the regular season, Levis earned the highest PFF grades of his debut season, completing 8-of-14 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown with one interception while finishing as the team’s leading rusher with 108 yards on 17 carries. It was an experience Levis would carry with him into a bizarre offseason that included an abrupt departure from campus in March, quarantine at home, and an eventual return to Penn State this summer.
Able to throw with Quinn Schulte, a wide receiver at Iowa who played with Levis at Xavier High School in Connecticut, the Nittany Lions’ backup also made the trek to Massachusetts once a week to throw with Penn State tight end Pat Freiermuth and true freshman wide receiver Jaden Dottin.
Working on his mechanics with new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, first virtually via Zoom then in person upon finally returning to Penn State, Levis has taken to heart the insights his new offensive coordinator has provided to his physical mechanics.
“There's always room for improvement and Coach Ciarrocca's made an effort with all of us to kind of help us with little things that we can consider trying on our own and then working on,” Levis said. “I actually have taken them really seriously and implemented a few things, just with my mechanics that I'm just trying to mentally kind of focus on when I'm throwing the ball now and making that into habits. It's been going well. I've been throwing the ball really well lately and I've got him to thank for that.”
Levis also said the extra time was especially beneficial to his mental game, not only taking on a new playbook brought to the Nittany Lions by Ciarrocca that was massaged and tweaked by the Penn State offensive coaching staff, but also learning beyond it.
“We had a new playbook to learn, so that was the biggest part for me, just learning the basics of that playbook. But then on top of that, kind of learning not only to watch film but (also learning) how to watch film and just how to get the most out of it,” Levis said. “I had a lot of free time to read the playbook, watch film, and I just became a better learner of the game, which was the biggest thing for me.”
Acknowledging that the first session, spanning months, wasn’t the ideal method of going through and learning the playbook, Levis emphasized just how buckled down the quarterbacks' room proved to be when absorbing Ciarrocca’s new information. Then, upon getting back to in-person learning, the transition was “a little smoother,” all setting up for the critical weeks leading into the Oct. 24 start to the 2020 season when the Nittany Lions travel to Indiana. Said Levis, “To finally be in pads and to be running these plays kind of full speed against the defense, it's been going really, really well.”
Roberson, meanwhile, has made strides of his own, according to both Franklin and Ciarrocca this preseason.
The second in line behind Levis, the redshirt freshman out of DePaul Catholic in Wayne, N.J., has taken on many of the characteristics Ciarrocca likes to work with when developing his quarterbacks. That starts, Ciarrocca said, with the mental side of the game, acknowledging that he hadn’t yet seen Roberson throw in live game action.
“I've seen a tremendous amount of improvement with him. His mind is starting to work a lot more, where I think that for him, he's always been able to just go out there and play and his talent has taken over, but I think he understands the value of being able to think and process information before the snap,” Ciarrocca said on the Penn State Coaches Show. “First, it takes to learn what you're seeing and what it means. So you're gaining knowledge first as a quarterback. Then, you take that knowledge and in order for that to be powerful, the knowledge is only powerful if you know how to use it. So he has to figure out in real-time, how do I use this knowledge?
“That's what we're working on hard with him right now, but (we’ve seen) tremendous growth with him. His footwork has improved a ton and he's done a nice job in these practices for us from an accuracy standpoint. He has talent. He's here for a reason. He has talent, and now we just got to let him grow and develop it.”
Expecting the best but preparing for any and every possibility in the season ahead, it’s a combination Franklin is optimistic about when looking at the position ahead of the 2020 season.
“I’ve really been pleased with those guys. I know they really reacted well to Kirk's style and Kirk's attention to detail,” he said. “I'm excited to watch those guys play and I'm excited to watch them compete.”
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