Whoever replaces James Franklin at Penn State will have their work cut out for them. 2025 was an all-in year for the program, so the roster that Franklin built was senior-heavy. Now after longtime contributors like Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Dani Dennis-Sutton, and so many others exhaust their eligibility and follow their NFL aspirations, it’ll take a major overhaul in Happy Valley.
However, if the next head coach can get him to stay, there might already be one major foundational piece in place: redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer.
Ethan Grunkemeyer could be Penn State's QB of the future
Grunkemeyer made the third start of his young career on Saturday against No. 2 Indiana, and with a downfield barrage in the second half, he pushed the Hoosiers to the brink. The Penn State coaching staff had kept the training wheels on Grunkemeyer through his first two starts, relying heavily on quick throws underneath and a steady diet of screens against Iowa and Ohio State. In Week 11, they took them off, and the former four-star didn’t fall.
Grunkemeyer finished the game 22-for-31 for 219 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Those aren’t jaw-dropping numbers, but his tape is littered with impressive throws and advanced reads against one of the country’s best defenses.
While Franklin’s struggles against top five teams certainly predate Drew Allar, over the last three seasons, they have been tied to the former five-star quarterback’s performance. Facing those elite teams, the windows are smaller, the margin for error slimmer, and the pressure is almost constant. Allar hardly ever handled it well, completing 60 percent of his throws just once in seven tries against top 10 teams. Grunkemeyer has already done it twice.
As for the constant pressure, that didn’t go away for the young QB. Grunkemeyer was pressured on 45.7 percent of his dropbacks on Saturday, and he was excellent against it. Grunkemeyer was sacked just twice on those 16 dropbacks and completed eight of his 13 attempts for 122 yards, the most of any FBS QB on pressured dropbacks in Week 11. His 9.4 yards per attempt under pressure ninth among QBs with at least 10 pressure dropbacks this week.
That’s a big-time performance in less-than-ideal circumstances, something Allar couldn’t seem to consistently deliver during his tenure in the Penn State backfield. It’s the type of outing that could be the silver lining on a lost season.
Will Grunkemeyer stay in Happy Valley?
On Monday, interim head coach Terry Smith told the media, “We have a quarterback for the future,” and while Smith may not be around to see it, if Grunkemeyer wants them, he could have the keys to the Penn State program.
It’s far from a sure thing that Grunkemeyer will develop into a quarterback that you can build a program around, but it’s trending in that direction. Still, even if he does continue on that positive trajectory for the final three weeks of the season, it’s not a sure thing he stays in Happy Valley.
There are head coaches on Penn State’s list of likely candidates, like Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, who could have plans to bring a quarterback with them. For those coaches, Grunkemeyer’s ascent is less of a factor.
However, for Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who would be a first-time head coach, or Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, who typically spins the transfer portal roulette wheel to find a new senior quarterback each season, the potential for stability at the most important position could make Penn State an even more enticing destination in a coaching cycle with job openings at LSU, Florida, and Auburn.
Penn State needs every advantage on the coaching carousel, and Grunkemeyer might be one its biggest.