Last week we examined the Penn State roster and determined we'll have 18-20 scholarships to hand out. So today we'll start the task of trying to determine how the coaches should allocate those scholarships to meet the future needs of the team. Today we'll start with looking at the quarterback situation. To do that, we must first examine the current depth chart.
| 2009 Quarterbacks | |
|---|---|
|
Seniors |
Daryll Clark |
|
Juniors |
N/A |
|
Sophomores |
N/A |
|
Freshmen |
Matt McGloin* |
* - denotes walk on
As you can see, Penn State has an experience quarterback coming back with Daryll Clark. But after that Penn State is desperately thin. The departure of Pat Devlin left a gaping two year hole in our quarterback roster. Kevin Newsome enrolled this spring and will fully participate in spring practice. He and walk on redshirt freshman Matt McGloin will compete for the #2 spot on the depth chart. I'll be surprised if Newsome doesn't win the competition and isn't the starting quarterback in 2010. He will be the most experienced scholarship quarterback on the roster, and his athleticism and style of play seem like a perfect fit for the Spread HD offense.
But he question we face in this post is, how many quarterbacks should Penn State take in this class? Before Pat Devlin left I would have said one quarterback would be enough in this class. Now that he's gone we face the prospect of just one scholarship quarterback in 2010. So I think it's imperative that Penn State recruit two quality quarterbacks in this class.
Top Targets
The good news is that Penn State already has a verbal commitment from Paul Jones. Jones, like Newsome, is an athletic quarterback perfectly suited to run the Spread HD offense Penn State has used so successfully under Michael Robinson and Daryll Clark. The word is that he intends to enroll early in 2010 to participate in spring practice and be ready to hit the field immediately in the fall.
This gives Penn State two excellent options in Newsome and Jones for 2010. Maybe the coaches will be happy enough with that. After all, you don't want too many studs in the stable or else egos start to get in the way. But let's remember that good depth has its advantages. The defense goes up against the scout team every day in practice. You want players on that scout team that are going to accurately simulate game situations. Maybe McGloin can be that guy. But I would prefer to have two options there if possible.
There is talk that Penn State is pursuing Anthony Gonzales from Liberty HS in Allentown, PA. He's a highly regarded dual-threat quarterback that has an already impressive offer list that includes Florida State, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Pitt, and West Virginia. I'm afraid the verbal from Paul Jones probably changed his offer from being a quarterback to being an athlete. If he has his heart set on being a quarterback this probably killed it for us.
My estimation is that Paul Jones will be the only quarterback we take this year. If we have a scholarship left over we may take another quarterback, but it will be some two star kid from central Pennsylvania who grew up with Kerry Collins posters on his wall and just wants to live the dream of running out of the tunnel in a Penn State uniform. If there are no scholarships available, said kid may come on board as a preferred walk on.