Peyton Falzone was rated as a four-star quarterback in the 2026 recruiting class, No. 29 in the country by 247Sports Composite, but he was the rare blue-chip QB without a home. Initially a Penn State commit, Falzone flipped to Auburn after James Franklin was fired midseason.
Then, once Auburn fired Hugh Freeze, he decommitted before unexpectedly signing with Penn State during the early signing period, a few days before Matt Campbell was hired as the head coach. That unique recruiting path has seemingly put his college football career in a bit of a precarious situation, and the remedy could be a position change.
On Wednesday, Lions247 confirmed that Falzone is getting continued practice work at tight end. While it’s a risky experiment, especially in the age of the transfer portal, it’s a worthwhile risk for the program to take with a player who probably never factored significantly into the program’s long-term plans.
Matt Campbell does not care about recruiting rankings at QB
Matt Campbell and his staff do things differently at the quarterback position. The recruiting industry’s rankings meant nothing inside the building in Ames and continue to prove irrelevant now that they’re in Happy Valley. Just this month, Campbell called redshirt freshman Alex Manske, who was ranked as QB No. 25 in 2025, a “top three or four” QB in a class that included Bryce Underwood, Keelon Russell, Tavien St. Clair, and Husan Longstreet.
Earlier this offseason, Campbell and his staff appeared all too eager to pivot off four-star Peter Bourque, who ultimately committed to James Franklin at Virginia Tech, in favor of three-star Will Wood. It’s unconventional, but from Brock Purdy to Rocco Becht, it’s hard to argue with the results.
Peyton Falzone was never going to be Penn State’s QB of the future
So, while Falzone ranked ahead of Penn State’s other 2026 QB signing, three-star Kase Evans, who followed Campbell from Iowa State, it’s safe to assume that the staff thinks more highly of Evans’ future prospects at the position. If they didn’t, they likely wouldn’t have gotten him to renounce his signing to Iowa State to become a Nittany Lion when Falzone was already locked into the class.
That leaves Falzone, who was a recruit without a program, as a player without a place in the one he picked. Unless this experiment works for an intriguing 6-foot-5 athlete who has already put on 20 pounds since he arrived in Happy Valley this winter.
Last week, quarterback coach Jake Waters was the first to reveal to reporters that Falzone was taking reps at tight end. He's with us at quarterback and continuing to work and grow every single day on how to be the best quarterback possible… But then also, given the type of athlete he is and how big he is,” Waters explained, “we're going to kind of let his body just go naturally where it's going to go. A guy with that type of athleticism, it definitely opens up possibilities and opportunities to do some really cool stuff with him."
Whether that “really cool stuff” is as a true tight end, something of an H-back, or in a wildcat quarterback role, somewhere between what Tyler Warren and Beau Pribula did in 2024, it would probably be more valuable to Penn State than Falzone serving as another backup quarterback on a roster that currently has five on scholarship and appears intent on handing the reins to Manske in 2027.
There is risk to this position change, however permanent it may be. Falzone is already on transfer watch, considering how he arrived ahead of most of the coaching staff. If he’s intent on staying at quarterback, though, this undeniably increases the chances that he leaves at season’s end. That is a risk, but it’s almost certainly one the program should be willing to take.
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