Penn State Football: Don’t expect the quarterbacks to throw more in 2019

Just because both dual-threat quarterbacks Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens are out of the picture, doesn’t mean Penn State will throw more during the 2019 season.

Over the years, the Penn State football program has established a solid offense, which mixed in a ton of running. Obviously, a couple of years back, they were able to become mightily successful by having Saquon Barkley in the backfield. Being that Barkley posed a threat in both, the rushing and receiving game, Penn State was able to get creative and mix in some of Trace McSorley’s multi-talented assets. Last season, their backfield regressed a bit without Barkley, but Miles Sanders still posed a similar threat, which kept the offense the same.

This season, the Penn State backfield is going to look a lot different. Trace McSorley is no longer under center. And as McSorley’s backup, Tommy Stevens was expected to take over after McSorley moved onto the NFL, the Lions were surprised to hear that the Senior quarterback was transferring down south.

Now, they are left with Junior quarterback Sean Clifford and Sophomore passer, Will Levis. There’s no word yet on who will be the starter, but the public consensus believes that Clifford will undoubtedly win out the battle over the summer.

Regardless of who will take over under center though, it won’t change the offense. According to Mike Poorman of StateCollege.com, the Lions will stick to their gameplan from the previous years. So what does that mean for who’s under center exactly?

Clifford, Levis are ready for the challenge…

The lack of offensive adjustments shows that whoever is in at quarterback will have to use their legs a bit. Despite being a Pro-Style quarterback, Clifford will have to prepare to run more. He might not have to average 153 rushing attempts per season, as McSorley did — but it sure doesn’t sound like the offense is going to shy away from their original game plan of the last three seasons.

Clifford’s supposed backup, Will Levis is also another quarterback who has to get ready to kick his game into gear if he gets on the field as well. Similar to Clifford, Levis is another Pro-Style quarterback, who stands tall at six-foot-three-inches.

Although that wasn’t his forte in High School, he expects the Lions offense to remain the same, as it did during the spring. And Clifford anticipates the challenge. “I don’t think there are going to be any changes in the offense. We did the same thing in the spring offensively, and we did pretty good running the ball,” Levis mentioned this past weekend. The duo of Penn State’s current quarterbacks might not pose the biggest threat in the ground game, but Levis did mention that “whoever is running the ball at quarterback this year will turn some heads.”