Ranking Penn State Football’s best QB Options in the Transfer Portal

Jace Ruder – North Carolina

Quarterback Jace Ruder enters the portal, along with fellow teammate Vincent Amendola, after neither has seen any real playing time due to standout quarterback Sam Howell’s arrival in Chapel Hill.

Ruder is a former highly touted four-star recruit out of Norton, Kansas ranked as the 336th player in the 2018 recruiting cycle.

Penn State football recruited and offered Ruder out of high school, as at the time former offensive coordinators Joe Moorhead and Ricky Rahne were seeking the Norton native’s services.

Ranked as the 18th best dual threat quarterback in his class, and understandably so, as he is the prototype size at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds.

Ruder is rather green, as he has only completed seven of 10 career passes for 98 yards while rushing 11 times for 40 yards as well. An injury against Georgia Tech his freshman season and a broken leg early in 2019 against App State hindered his chances at seeing the field, serving mostly as Howell’s backup in 2020.

The intrigue with Ruder for Penn State football is that he is a redshirt sophomore, and with the extra year of eligibility due to this covid-19 year, Ruder would have three years of eligibility in Happy Valley if he were to come. The opposite of a proven commodity in Jack Coan, Ruder has a high ceiling and untapped potential and could be a swing for the fences type of addition for Franklin.