Penn State head coach James Franklin discusses quarterback reps, Clifford’s recovery and more
Penn State head coach James Franklin didn’t name a starter for Saturday’s game against Illinois during his Tuesday press conference, but he did give a glimpse into how the team will be preparing the position this week.
The team will split the reps between redshirt sophomore Ta’Quan Roberson and true freshman Christian Veilleux this week, according to Franklin.
“We are gonna split the reps between Ta’Quan and Veilleux,” Franklin said at his weekly Tuesday press conference. “... It’s always a competition, but it’s probably magnified a little bit. (We’re) looking at those guys very closely in practice and in the scrimmage periods and things like that. So, we will split the reps between those two evenly and make it a competition.”
Roberson and Veilleux splitting those reps gives some insight into how the Nittany Lions will prepare for the Illini and who will take the snaps in the game.
The plan comes after redshirt senior starting quarterback Sean Clifford suffered an undisclosed injury in Penn State’s 23-20 loss to Iowa just under two weeks ago. He was replaced by Roberson, who struggled with his cadence in the game, causing more than a few false starts to be called on his offensive linemen, and struggled passing the ball.
Roberson has spent time working on at least one of those issues this week.
“We’ve been working on (his cadence),” Franklin said. “... It’s really no different than what we’ve been doing in my eight years since we’ve been here. I think, obviously, Ta’Quan has been able to get more reps with the ones and more reps with (starting center) Mike Miranda and it’s been good.”
The splitting of reps comes as a mild surprise, given that Franklin declared Roberson the clear backup following fall practice.
The Penn State head coach said the player who has been on campus longer — in this case Roberson — should be widening the gap between himself and the player who more recently arrived — in this case Veilleux.
That hasn’t been the case for the Nittany Lions, with Franklin calling the battle between the two “somewhat close.”
“A player that’s been in the program a couple years should really be widening that gap and a player that’s been in the program less amount of time, he’s gotta close that gap as much as he can,” Franklin said. “But you also have to factor in the number of reps that they’ve been able to get in practice and the number of reps that they’ve been able to hopefully get in games. ... That also makes the argument, if it’s close, it really shouldn’t be. The guy that’s been in the program for a long time and the guy that’s getting the most reps should be able to widen that gap.”
A close competition between the two quarterbacks creates a difficult situation for Penn State’s offensive staff.
Normally, the clear-cut starter would get all of the work in practice and would be as prepared as possible for an opponent. When that isn’t the case — and when neither player has a particularly high amount of experience — the quarterback who wins the battle will likely not be as prepared as the team would like heading into the game, since they would only get half the work.
Ideally, Franklin would be giving all of those reps to whoever will inevitably start.
“The reps in general are gold,” Franklin said. “... I think right now, we’re even just based on where we’re at with those two guys. But, I think whenever you can obviously decide who your starter is and then be able to slant a few more reps to your starters compared to your backups. ... That chemistry, that cohesion of the group is really important. That’s what you’d like to do, but right now I think our plan is to split pretty evenly.”
The competition between the two backups makes it simple to infer that Clifford — whose status Franklin declined to comment on — will not play against Illinois.
The redshirt senior quarterback is still staying engaged while working through his injury and is putting in the work behind the scenes to make sure he can be back as soon as possible.
“As you know with Sean, he’s shown his toughness over the years both physically and mentally,” Franklin said. “I literally just walked, coming over here to the press conference, and saw him in the facility. He kind of lives in there, watching film and obviously now getting treatment and doing everything he possibly can to put him in the best position to get back as soon as possible, whenever that may be. So we’ll see but it won’t be because of a lack of effort on his part. He’s going to do everything that he’s supposed to do.”
The competition for the starting job while Clifford is out may be up in the air — and the number of reps may make it difficult to get anyone completely ready — but Franklin will not be rushed into making a decision.
He intends to wait to make that call until it is clear who should be leading the Nittany Lions on their first drive Saturday afternoon.
“No different than any other situation, you’d like to make the decision as early as you can,” Franklin said. “We’re not in position to do that right now. So those reps will be divided evenly and once we know that it’s clear, then we’ll make the decision and go from there.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 2:37 PM.
