The reason quarterback is the most important position on the field is that the best of them provide the best chance to create plays when it looks as though no play is there, to beat a blitz or a stunt or perfect coverage with a pinpoint throw or a timely scramble. Much of the excitement that surrounds Penn State coming out of the spring is that the Nittany Lions appear to have at least one of those playmaking quarterbacks ready to roll this fall.

The rest of the excitement, if not most of it, should be based on the notion that if Drew Allar and/or Beau Pribula aren’t fully ready when the season begins, the guys around them should give them time to get there.

Saturday’s Blue-White Game was the first actual scrimmage format for the Nittany Lions since 2019 but it was also still a Blue-White Game, which means any firm conclusions other than that it was the sport of football and that the players on the field will make up the majority of the players who will take the field in the games that count should be avoided.

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Only an exhibition, Penn State’s Blue-White Game sometimes serves as a grand stage for many soon forgotten one-hit wonders.

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So I was asked to write about some noteworthy Nittany Lions whose standout success in the Spring game never translated to the regular season, players who shined brightly on Blue-White Saturday, never to be heard from again. Before we get to it though, please indulge me in a brief digression.

Here’s a hypothetical I love using as a conversation-starter: What kind of band would you rather be a part of: a one-hit wonder that bursts onto the scene with blinding brilliance before quickly flaming out, or a critical darling with a devoted cult following that never becomes a breakthrough commercial success? Would you choose one turn under the brightest lights at the expense of longevity, ending up an occasional punchline, but also the author of one undeniably great work that entertained the masses? Or would you take the path of the steady, but less spectacular, contented with exchanging household name status for a lengthy career? Would you rather play in Dexy’s Midnight Runners or the Tragically Hip?

It’s a great discussion. God bless my dear friend and great Penn Stater Chris G. Miller, who has the wisdom to choose the Hip and their lauded discography. There’s a lot to be said for decades of contentment. If I’m being honest, though, I want that one brass ring. If I can make one thing that lives on through frat parties and wedding receptions long after I’m worm food, I’m taking that shot.

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The Red Zone – a place where elite offenses flourish and also-rans stall out like a 1977 Ford Pinto. To many, it’s puzzling why an offense can be so explosive, fluid and rhythmic in the open field then, suddenly, stub its toe and step on rakes once inside the final 20 yards to paydirt.

It’s an enveloping paradox Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich couldn’t untangle from during his first season in Happy Valley but did everything in his play-calling power to smooth out and make right in 2022.

As our friend and FTB contributor Nate Wilmot laid out in his end-of-year statistical recap, Penn State averaged 4.2 points per Red Zone visit in 2021 – “good” for a 114^th place tie in FBS alongside neutered attacks like Rutgers and UMass. Last year, different story…the Nittany Lions averaged 5.8 points per Red Zone trip, trailing only Tennessee in this vital metric. Red Zone Efficiency represented the biggest year-to-year leap for Penn State in any basic or advanced statistical category.

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When Patrick Kraft was named the athletic director at Penn State just about a year ago, he inherited one of the nation’s largest and most accomplished collection of teams, led by a football program that has gone a few more years without a natty than most fans would like but still boasts a reputation few can match and backed by one of the officially largest and unofficially most fervent alumni bases in the world. It was an enviable gig, as far as AD gigs go.

Fast forward 12 months and Kraft and his team are trying to crack the same puzzle that is stumping many of his counterparts around the country: How do you leverage passionate fans who are ready to write checks to build an NIL surplus that directly allows you to assemble the teams they root for? And, in Penn State’s case in particular, how do you manage that without tripping the political land mines that are unique to (Usually) Happy Valley?

Look around the Nittany Lions and you can see examples of the public face of NIL everywhere: Nick Singleton’s deal with West Shore Homes. Drew Allar, Kalen King, Olu Fashanu and Abdul Carter driving Teslas. Students eating Roman Bravo Young pizzas. Name, image and likeness helping various brands and putting extra cash in the pockets of the student athletes. Smiles, handshakes, American capitalism at work.

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