Maybe the biggest criticism lobbed at Matt Campbell from the Penn State fanbase, as his team has started 0-4 in Big Ten play, has been his overriding loyalty to his former Iowa State starters. However, in most cases, the belief that he’s unfairly deferring to former Cyclones can be reasonably debunked.
Campbell and his staff have phased out Marcus Neal Jr. and Jeremiah Cooper at safety over the past two weeks in favor of Zion Tracy, and while Carson Hansen has maintained the lion’s share of the carries in the backfield, Quinton Martin Jr. has averaged 2.0 yards per carry in conference play.
However, at quarterback, the loyalty is impossible to ignore. After Rocco Becht turned the ball over three times in the second half against Michigan, leading directly to all 21 of Michigan’s points, Campbell stated plainly that there will be no consideration given to a potential change at QB.
Alex Manske needs a chance to prove he deserves the starting job in 2027
In his Tuesday press availability, he doubled down, and in the process, he acknowledged the biggest reason that backup Alex Manske, who also followed him from Iowa State, should see the field the rest of the way.
“Every rep that he gets in practice right now are valuable reps, right now,” Campbell said, acknowledging that Manske, who had open-heart surgery this offseason, has missed spring practice each of the last two years.
“I think we have confidence in a lot of our football players, but I think I said this in the beginning of the season, until the lights come on, until you get out there and play under the lights, what does that real confidence look like?”
Campbell was then asked a follow-up about the difficulty of evaluating Manske without him having played any reps against Big Ten competition. “I certainly would say that is a difficult answer to have right now,” before turning the focus back to his faith in Becht.
But that’s really the crux of it. Faith in Becht, misplaced or not, is irrelevant now that this team has four losses. Whether or not Penn State makes a bowl game is irrelevant, too. This is a lost season for a program in need of a roster overhaul, so the rest of the year the entire focus should be on finding that answer.
Can Manske do it under the lights? Let’s find out, because if he can’t and he’s handed the starting job in 2027, Campbell will be staring down two lost seasons to start his tenure in Happy Valley, and the patience of this fanbase, justifiably, isn’t that long.
Rocco Becht had his chance to overcome Penn State’s offensive flaws
“From an Alex standpoint, we have great belief that he’s going to have a bright future, his time will come, and when that time comes, we’ll be excited for that opportunity, but obviously that time is not right now.”
That mindset might cut it at Iowa State, a program with six all-time bowl game wins, of which Campbell was responsible for half of them. But at Penn State, Manske can’t simply be handed the starting job in 2027, especially if he’s not good enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff to take over for Becht in largely inconsequential games down the stretch.
A coaching staff can absolutely stunt a quarterback’s development by playing them too early. Maybe Penn State is protecting Manske from that with an offense that can’t run the ball and a severely limited wide receiver room. That decision is defensible, but if it's the one Campbell makes, he can’t make it without bringing in competition from the transfer portal this offseason.
Campbell laid out the explicit reason it’s so important to see Manske play this year. And he used it to argue against him playing, while once again defending the player who made three costly mistakes against Michigan and has five interceptions to just three touchdown passes in four Big Ten games.
“I’d challenge all of us to go back and look at those moments,” Campbell said of Becht’s turnovers, “Are those just the quarterback? There were two Saturday that were,” Campbell admitted, “And yet we’re not even in the position to be successful in that game without all the other really great things that happen in that game.”
Maybe that’s true. It probably is. It also doesn’t really matter because Becht is out of eligibility after this season, so Campbell has to replace him this offseason, and it would be incredibly helpful to know for sure if Manske is up for that challenge. Campbell said it himself.
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