THE SKINNY
Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 195 pounds
Hometown/High School: York, PA (Central York H.S.)
Ranking: ★★★ (87 - 247Sports)
Notable Offers: Nebraska, Northwestern, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE TALE
Having grown up in a Penn State family, Beau Pribula has been a familiar face at Penn State camps throughout the years. So when the Nittany Lions came through with an offer on March 27, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Pribula made the call for the Nittany Lions.
After a spring and summer filled with Zoom meetings, Pribula decided that he had (virtually) seen all that he needed to (virtually) see, as he made his verbal commitment to Penn State earlier today. With his verbal, he comes the third commitment in the Nittany Lions’ 2022 class, joining four-star wide receiver Kaden Saunders and tight end Jerry Cross.
OUTLOOK
2022 is still far away, but that’s the way quarterback recruiting has gone in recent years — often times, kids are committing before their junior seasons, meaning that college programs have to do a whole lot of projecting at the position. When it comes to Pribula, there is a lot to like.
As a sophomore, he has good size at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds. Definitely has the looks of a kid who will play in college in the 6-foot-3, 220-pound area, which given his mobility and toughness, is an intriguing combination. While I don’t expect new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to run the quarterback as much as Joe Moorhead and Ricky Rahne did, having a quarterback that can get you 3-4 yards on third-and-short is certainly valued.
Looking at his sophomore film, you’d like to see more zip on his ball, both in the intermediate and deeper throws. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for a quarterback at Pribula’s age, but it’s something to keep an eye on this season. He also needs to tighten his delivery a bit, which it seems like he has looking at workout videos his posted from this summer.
Overall, it’s a good pickup for Penn State. In an ideal world, I am sure the staff would have liked to see Pribula throw in person this spring or summer, but obviously we are not living in an ideal world. Because of that, they needed to make some assumptions on Pribula’s development, which of course comes with risk but as we said — there’s a whole lot to like about Pribula. According to Pribula’s coach Josh Oswalt, James Franklin said Pribula reminded him of Trace McSorley, which isn’t hard to see. It remains to be seen if Pribula ever reaches that level, but the tools are certainly there.