Penn State football: Trace McSorley talks up his potential replacement

Penn State football won’t name a starting quarterback yet. However, former Nittany Lions’ QB Trace McSorley weighed in on the situation.

Finding a new quarterback is difficult. Especially when the former passer just so happens to be the All-Time passing leader of the program. Yes, we’re discussing Trace McSorley’s departure from the Penn State football program. And no, they don’t have his replacement figured out yet.

We understand the James Franklin way. As a competetive coach, Franklin refuses to just hand out a starting position without there being a fight. And when it comes to the quarterback, also known as the general of the offense, you have to be almost one-hundred percent sure before announcing the final decision, because the position is far too important to screw up.

That’s why the decision is taking so long. Coach Franklin and offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne mentioned they will announce the decision when they are ’90-percent sure’ but 21 days into August and they aren’t quite there yet with the decision.

According to Franklin, they haven’t even discussed it. Perhaps, the competition between Sean Clifford and Will Levis is closer than we thought? That could be the situation. After all, both guys have nearly the same amount of college gameday experience, which is just about zero.

However, the Lions aren’t worried about whether Clifford or Levis are both ready or not. They believe both guys are prepared. They just want to make sure they make the correct decision. And whoever they do decide to roll with, former Penn State star Trace McSorley feels confident about whatever decision is potentially coming soon.

McSorley’s thoughts on his potential replacement

“He’s [Clifford] taken every single day since he arrived on campus, McSorley said, according to Brad Crawford. “Really businesslike, very competitive, very hungry. And as he’s gone on through this year especially, I think he’s had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder with people saying this and that about him.”

Based off of his statement, it sure sounds like McSorley is leaning more towards Clifford being the replacement, as that’s who he knows best. However, he did mention Levis as well and made sure to say he has a similar approach to his game. All in all, it truly feels like the public consensus will be correct and Clifford will take over the job — but the Lions aren’t ready to make the call yet.

Based off of what McSorley said though, it sounds like the Lions are in good hands. Considering that Clifford improved in areas where he could shape his game to be more tailored to the offense like McSorley’s was, we could see little change once he gets his feet wet. First, he has to take care of business in practice though, and win over the spot.