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Penn State Football: Takeaways from Jaxon Smolik’s commitment

By Alec Whitaker

Quarterback Jaxon Smolik of Dowling Catholicas makes a pass the Lions take on the Maroons in Des Moines, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021.1n5a3925 Jpg
Quarterback Jaxon Smolik of Dowling Catholicas makes a pass the Lions take on the Maroons in Des Moines, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021.1n5a3925 Jpg /
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(From left) Penn State quarterbacks Drew Allar, Beau Pribula, Christian Veilleux and Sean Clifford warm up together before the start of the 2022 Blue-White game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, April 23, 2022, in State College.Hes Dr 042322 Bluewhite
(From left) Penn State quarterbacks Drew Allar, Beau Pribula, Christian Veilleux and Sean Clifford warm up together before the start of the 2022 Blue-White game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, April 23, 2022, in State College.Hes Dr 042322 Bluewhite /

2. Building talented depth

If you watched Penn State’s game against Iowa last year, you came away with one major takeaway: Penn State has zero quarterback depth.

Thankfully, the disaster that was the second half of the 2021 Iowa game is a thing of the past.

Yurcich and the Nittany Lions are starting to stack talent in the quarterback room. This year, starter Sean Clifford will be backed up by promising red shirt freshman Christian Veilleux. Behind them, is the former 5-star Drew Allar and another talented freshman in Beau Pribula.

When Clifford leaves after the 2022 season, Penn State will have its first quarterback competition since the Spring of 2019 when Clifford beat out Tommy Stevens.

Veilleux and Allar look like the front runners for the job. The belief is that one of those two may not be at Penn State after the battle ends. If that was to be the case, that would leave Penn State’s quarterback room as the starter and Pribula, only two scholarship guys.

By adding Smolik, Yurcich and the Nittany Lions have guaranteed themselves some depth for the 2023 season. Eventually, Smolik could battle for the starting job.

The Nittany Lions need to give themselves as many talented options as possible at quarterback, and that’s what adding Smolik does.

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