Penn State Football head coach James Franklin turned some heads back in January when he decided to move on from offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and hire Mike Yurcich.
The main reason for the change was that Franklin wanted to take the next step offensively, specifically at the quarterback position.
The Nittany Lions‘ offensive struggles weren’t all on Ciarrocca, but it still wasn’t a good look.
Starting quarterback Sean Clifford completed just 60.6% of his passes with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 2020. He struggled with turnovers and sacks, and was benched from time to time for Will Levis, who is now at Kentucky.
How Yurcich does with Clifford, and the rest of Penn State’s quarterbacks, remains to be seen, but he has already come through on one aspect of his job.
On Monday, Penn State received a commitment from 4-star quarterback Drew Allar. Allar is the 89th ranked prospect according to 247 Sports and is the sixth ranked pro-style quarterback on their rankings.
That is significant, because Allar could be what Franklin has been looking for his entire tenure, a high-profile quarterback.
Franklin thought he had this problem solved back in 2016, when Justin Fields committed to the Nittany Lions. Fields’ de-commitment in the Spring of 2017, ended that dream.
To date, Franklin has signed nine quarterbacks during his time in Happy Valley. The highest ranked of that bunch being Clifford, who was ranked as the eighth best quarterback by the composite rankings in 2017.
That group does include Trace McSorley, so Franklin does deserve a lot of credit for being practically the only coach in the country who though McSorley was a quarterback and not a safety.
Regardless, this past season showed that Penn State lacks talent at the quarterback position.
When looking at the Playoff from this past season, three out of the four quarterbacks who competed in it, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Mac Jones, are all projected first round picks in this Spring’s NFL draft.
Quarterback play will get you to where you want to go.
Now, with Allar in the fold, Franklin has the quarterback he has longed for.
Yurcich deserves the majority of the credit for landing Allar. Penn State did not offer Allar until Yurcich arrived, and he was one of the first coaches to notice Allar’s talent, as he had only five offers before his Penn State one.
With Allar being from Ohio, Yurcich was familiar with him from Yurcich’s time with Ohio State in 2019.
Yurcich’s impressive track record with working with Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and Sam Ehlinger makes him an attractive option for top quarterback recruits.
The reality is, without Yurcich, Penn State may have never offered Allar. If they did offer Allar, they would have probably lost the recruiting battle to Notre Dame, who were heavily invested in Allar for a while.
The addition of Yurcich changed the way quarterback recruits look at Penn State and they will be better for it.
Franklin made a gutsy move when he decided to let go of an offensive coordinator, who deserved a second year due to the situation he was put in, but so far Yurcich is proving Franklin right for making the move.