The transfer portal season in college football leaves small breadcrumbs of information, and with so many moving pieces at once, it’s up to us to connect the dots to make out the full picture and clear path. With Beau Pribula announcing his departure from the Penn State football program prior to its first-round College Football Playoff matchup with SMU on Saturday, another potential star is on the portal market and the Nittany Lion’s offense has a noticeable void, but if you trace the most logical reasoning for Pribula’s decision, you can find a substantial silver-lining for Penn State.
Pribula, now a redshirt sophomore and Penn State graduate, arrived in Happy Valley as a three-star recruit in 2022, the same class that was headlined by Drew Allar, a consensus five-star and the No. 1 QB in the country. So, Pribula’s path to playing time has had a severe impediment and will in 2025, unless, of course, that impediment removed itself.
After Allar’s largely phenomenal performance in Penn State’s Big Ten Championship Game loss to Oregon, the 6-foot-5 junior began to generate serious buzz as a 2025 first-round NFL draft pick. In that case, Allar would be off to the league after the CFP run, and Pribula would be the program’s heir-apparent in the Andy Kotelnicki offense, with the innovative play-caller recently announcing his intention to stay in Happy Valley for a second season. A Pennsylvania native, and an athletic dual-threat QB, Pribula would be the perfect fit as the Penn State starting quarterback, but he’s ready now, and this decision indicates that the impediment will still be in place in 2025, or in simpler terms: Drew Allar is coming back.
Allar’s decision hasn’t been reported, but if anyone knows his intentions it’s the guy who he has shared a quarterback room with for the last three years. If Pribula is testing the open market with his two remaining seasons of eligibility, and Kotelnicki, who was reportedly in the mix for the West Virginia head coaching job, is staying put, then all signs point to Allar returning for his final year.
While it could hurt the offense in the CFP, and Pribula could have waited until the season ended and a five-day portal window opened, as it does for all teams once they're eliminated from the playoff, in many ways this decision is a win-win. After showcasing his skillset in Kotelnicki’s two-QB packages and in relief of Allar, particularly in Penn State’s 28-13 win over Wisconsin when Allar left the game just before halftime down 10-7, Pribula will be one of the most highly-coveted and priced players in the portal, and the Nittany Lions will have arguably the most talented quarterback in their program’s history for another year.
An additional season of Allar means another opportunity for James Franklin to aggressively pursue talented wide receivers in the portal to build a dynamic offense around his QB. Franklin whiffed last offseason, only adding Julian Fleming from Ohio State, who finished the regular season with just 14 catches, but if the speculation is true, he can atone for that mistake and make another run at the national championship, regardless of how this CFP run ends.
More Allar also means a clearer succession plan at the position. True freshman four-star Ethan Grunkemeyer moves up to QB2 on the depth chart after impressing the coaching staff throughout practices this season, and more importantly, becomes the heir-apparent. Grunkemeyer can take over Penn State’s offense in 2026 as a redshirt sophomore will three remaining seasons of eligibility, as opposed to battling with Pribula for the next two offseasons, or worse transferring away.
Penn State will miss Pribula, he adds a dynamic element to Kotelnicki’s offense, but he played under 200 offensive snaps this season and many of those came in relief of Allar in blowout wins. His presence wouldn’t have been the difference between a first-round exit and a national championship, and for another year of Allar, assuming he does return, it’s a relatively small price to pay.