New Penn State football offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has seemingly made a good impression on a future quarterback, while being in contact with one who is still undecided.
Penn State football’s newest coaching addition, Mike Yurcich, has hit the ground running since being named offensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions, including reaching out to 2022 commit, quarterback Beau Pribula.
Pribula is a four star recruit out of Pennsylvania and currently the only quarterback commit for Franklin’s 2022 class, which currently ranks 2nd in the country behind only Ohio State according to 247 rankings.
The Central York quarterback was named the State 6-A player of the year in Pennsylvania this season by the coaches, and despite the coaching change, firing offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca who recruited him to Happy Valley, stays committed to Penn State football.
"“At first I was really disappointed because I got to know Ciarrocca very well,” Pribula told the York Daily record. “But when I figured out it was Coach Yurcich I was pretty excited because of how successful he’s been and how he’s developed quarterbacks.”"
Franklin told Pribula that the move to Yurcich was all about timing, not about what Ciarrocca did or did not do, but the fact that Yurcich was now available after coaching changes at Texas, and he had to pounce on the opportunity to bring him to State College.
Pribula sees a lot of similarities in the system he runs in high school currently to the spread attack Yurcich deployed in all of his coaching stops at Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Texas.
According to the Pennsylvania player of the year, Penn State football is also getting a a fiery leader in the former Texas offensive coordinator. Pribula described a zoom call Yurcich had with the 2022 recruits where he raised his voice and was getting pumped up just talking about football with the youngsters.
"“Everybody knows the stats and everything and how successful he’s been through the years, but from a personal standpoint, I can tell he’s an extremely passionate guy,” Pribula said. “He’s very emotional and really enjoys being a coach and making players better.”"
It seems though that Pribula is not the only 2022 recruit Yurcich has been in contact with, as Sean Fitz and Tyler Donohue of the Lions247 podcast reported that the new OC has spoken with quarterback AJ Duffy since taking the job with the Nittany Lions.
Duffy, a big-time four star recruit out of Rancho Verde, California was a player that Kirk Ciarrocca was recruiting heavily for Penn State football. duffy just recently announced he will be transferring to IMG Academy in Florida, where he will be playing with 2022 Penn State football commit, Drew Shelton.
The soon-to-be IMG quarterback would be a unique get for Yurcich and Penn State football coming from California, however he has made a point of stopping in State College, as he and his parents made the trip to Pennsylvania back in November to see the campus.
Ranked as the fifth best pro-style quarterback in the ’22 class, it makes sense why Yurcich is trying to keep positive momentum going with Duffy, as he could potentially be a perfect fit for his spread attack on offense down the line.
Yurcich has worked with quarterbacks like Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and Sam Ehlinger in his time in the power five ranks, so his track record should be appealing to young high school quarterbacks around the country.