James Franklin lobbies for transfer portal changes as Penn State loses Beau Pribula

Penn State coach James Franklin hopes college football players soon won’t have to make the same decision as backup quarterback Beau Pribula.

The sophomore, who played a key role in Penn State’s first run to the College Football Playoff, won’t be a part of the team’s quest for a national championship that begins against SMU at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. He has decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

“We’ve got problems in college football,” Franklin said Monday. “He did not want to leave our program until the end of the season, but the way the portal is, and the timing of it, when you play the position of quarterback and there’s only one spot and those spots are filling up, he felt like he was put in a no-win situation. And I agree with him.”

By rule, players looking to transfer must enter the portal by Dec. 28. They cannot do so again until April 16, 2025. That timeframe — approved in October in a move that reduced the window by 15 days after earlier complaints from coaches — is not ideal, Franklin said. Last week, Marshall pulled out of a bowl game after too many of its players hit the portal.

Pribula wants to spend his last two years of eligibility as a starter and knows he’d likely have to wait at least another year in Happy Valley with starter Drew Allar returning for his senior year next season.

Waiting until April to transfer would have left Pribula with fewer options and less time to adjust to a new team, as most programs will have signed quarterbacks and be well into spring practices or finished by the portal’s April 25 closing date.

But the native of York, Pennsylvania, also wanted to chase an NCAA championship with the program he dreamed of one day starting for, too. Instead, the dual-threat player who chipped in 517 yards of total offense and had a hand in nine total touchdowns this season will spend the rest of the month looking for a new program.

“Beau grew up wanting to come to Penn State his whole life,” Franklin said. “This is his dream school and he had a phenomenal career here and I just want everyone to understand that most importantly, and why have we created a system where this guy couldn’t finish the season with his team?”

Although Franklin has said previously that Penn State players who enter the portal are no longer part of the program’s plans, he was willing to make an exception for Pribula.

But at practice earlier this week, both Franklin and Pribula felt the quarterback’s attention was elsewhere. They agreed to part ways so Pribula could focus on finishing his finals on campus and taking official visits to new schools.

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“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’d been doing all year long,” Franklin said.

While he wasn’t the starter, Pribula delivered when he was called on.

Pribula helped salvage Penn State’s run to the Big Ten title game when he replaced an injured Allar with the Nittany Lions trailing at Wisconsin. Pribula led the way in a 28-13 comeback win, completing 11 of 13 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown and running six times for 48 yards.

“Beau is one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” center Nick Dawkins said. “It’s tough when they have windows like that that allow guys to have to make personal decisions that impact the team, so it’s a tough situation obviously for him and I only wish him the best.”

Without Pribula, Penn State will likely turn to freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer to back up Allar. While Grunkemeyer has traveled with the team, he has yet to take a snap in a game.

Fellow freshman Jaxon Smolik could also see time, but was only recently cleared to resume practice after recovering from an unspecified injury that’s kept him out all season.

“It’s a spoke in the wheel of what we’re doing, that kind of package,” offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said, “so it’ll be replaced with another kind of spoke.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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