Every College Football Playoff team wants their focus to solely be on winning a national title, but Penn State head coach James Franklin addressed a problem elsewhere in the sport.
The college football transfer portal is open, and the timing couldn’t be worse for coaches like Franklin, who already saw a key backup player enter.
But Franklin defended his backup quarterback, Beau Pribula, who made the decision to enter the portal after starter Drew Allar already declared his intention to return to the Nittany Lions in 2025.
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“The overlapping CFB playoff & transfer portal timeline has forced me into an impossible decision,” Pribula wrote on social media Sunday.
“We got problems in college football, and I can give you my word Beau Pribula did not want to leave our program, and he did not want to leave our program until the end of the season,” Franklin said, via ESPN, on Monday in defense of Pribula’s decision to enter the portal. “But the way the portal is and the timing of it and the way our team is playing, and 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 them.”
Pribula spoke with Franklin about his decision before making it public.
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Now, because of the decision, true freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer, who hasn’t thrown a pass, will be Penn State’s backup throughout the College Football Playoff, which begins for the Nittany Lions on Saturday against No. 11 SMU at Beaver Stadium.
“No. 1, I hate for it, most importantly for Beau Pribula,” Franklin added. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the student-athlete, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of college football.”