Former Penn State Football QB Tommy Stevens loses starting job
Former Penn State football quarterback Tommy Stevens’ struggles have set him back this season at Mississippi State.
The last couple of years have been difficult for former Penn State football quarterback, Tommy Stevens. Around three years ago, the former three-star recruit had the opportunity to battle for the starting quarterback position against Trace McSorley.
At the time, both passers were young and unproven. According to head coach James Franklin, the reason why McSorley won was mainly because he had more experience within the program. At the time, nobody knew that Stevens exercised the idea of potentially transferring.
As we know, it’s difficult for college football players to stand out if they are sitting behind a long-term starter for a majority of their eligibility. However, Stevens was ready to stick it out. With McSorley leaving for the NFL in 2019, everybody was prepared to see Stevens take over the Nittany Lions offense for his senior season — but that didn’t go according to plan.
Stevens asked Penn State head coach James Franklin for a verbal commitment, making Stevens the starter for the 2019 season. Franklin wouldn’t budge, though. Although Stevens’ experience alone probably would’ve won him the job, Franklin is unwilling to give handouts before summer practice had even begun. Therefore, Stevens suddenly transferred to Mississippi State.
To no surprise, Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead confirmed Stevens would open the 2019 season as the starter over the summer. After some struggles and injury concerns early on, though, Stevens began to fall out of favor for the Bulldogs.
Now, the former Penn State quarterback ends up in the most unfortunate predicament he could fall into — that’s losing his spot as the starter just months after transferring. In five games, Stevens completed 43 passes for 515 yards and five touchdowns. He also threw for four interceptions though and only accounted for 52 yards in the ground game.
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At this point, Moorhead is looking to roll with the younger prospect, Garrett Shrader, as the Bulldogs’ head coach confirmed on Monday that Stevens will be the backup this week. The hope for Stevens is that he can find his way back when is he is fully healthy, but his situation is just wildly unfortunate right now — especially after everything he went through in Happy Valley.