James Franklin on Penn State football’s QB battle: ‘We’re gonna need them both’
Penn State appears to have a quarterback battle on its hands between redshirt junior Sean Clifford and redshirt sophomore Will Levis.
Both played — and had their fair share of struggles — in a loss to Iowa last Saturday. But even after a weekend to assess the situation, head coach James Franklin didn’t name a starter on Tuesday. It looks like they both could potentially see the field against Michigan on Saturday.
“When it comes to Will and Sean, we’re gonna need them both,” Franklin told reporters on a Zoom conference call. “We’re gonna need them both. The reality is turnovers have been our issue — one of our issues, but probably one of our bigger issues. And the reality is we’ve had it with both of them. So, we need to protect the football. But we’re gonna need both of those guys.”
Clifford has 16 career starts under his belt, but the 6-foot-2, 217-pound Ohio native didn’t get the start against the Hawkeyes after being benched early in the second quarter against Nebraska the previous week. Levis started versus the Hawkeyes but was pulled for Clifford late in the third quarter after fumbling twice.
Entering the game with 4:09 left in the third quarter, Clifford provided the offense with an instant spark by throwing touchdowns on his first two pass attempts to bring the Nittany Lions within 10 points. Eventually, though, his turnover problem resurfaced. Clifford threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter that sealed Penn State’s fate.
Out of Penn State’s 13 turnovers through five games this season, 10 have come at the hands of Clifford. He’s thrown eight interceptions and had two fumbles returned for touchdowns this year. The redshirt junior has completed just 87 of his 152 pass attempts (57.2 completion percentage) so far, throwing for 1,070 yards and 11 touchdowns to go with his eight picks.
Levis has had trouble holding on to the football, too. The 6-foot-3, 222-pound Connecticut native has fumbled three times this season — once in Penn State’s season-opener against Indiana last month and twice last week against Iowa. He’s completed 27 of his 47 pass attempts (57.4 completion percentage) for 325 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions.
Regardless of the glaring flaws in their games, Franklin has faith in both quarterbacks.
“I think we’ve got two quarterbacks that are very passionate and are very competitive and wanna help the team win and wanna be part of the solution,” the seventh-year head coach said.
Aside from Clifford and Levis, the Nittany Lions’ roster features redshirt freshman quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson, along with two true freshmen quarterbacks in Micah Bowens and Mason Stahl.
Roberson — a former four-star recruit in the Class of 2018, according to 247Sports — seems like he’d be the next viable option after Clifford and Levis. But after last Saturday’s loss to Iowa, Franklin said Roberson “has not been available.”
Bowens is a three-star prospect who just arrived to campus this fall, and Stahl is a walk-on. It’s unlikely that either of those players gets a shot to start this season.
So, Penn State’s choices at quarterback remain limited to Clifford and Levis.
While it’s never a good sign when a team’s starting quarterback is undecided this late into the season, Franklin at least seems to believe strongly in both players.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Sean, and I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Will,” Franklin said. “And I expect them to play well on Saturday and give us a chance to be successful.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 2:23 PM.
