For Penn State coach James Franklin, backup QB Beau Pribula’s recent entry into the transfer portal is an example of what’s wrong with college football.
Pribula, who grew up in York and dreamed of playing quarterback at Penn State, announced his decision to enter the portal six days before the team’s first-ever College Football Playoff game and will not be with the team during the Playoff run, which is per Penn State’s team policy.
Franklin said that he “hates” how this came about and wants things to change with college football.
“There’s been a lot of discussions about maybe a commissioner of college football,” Franklin told reporters during his weekly Monday presser. “I think it’s pretty obvious we need that. We need somebody running college football. We need somebody that is not biased based on a conference, and that is out of the financial impacts of it as well. Because if you’re just making decisions which are in the best interest of the student-athlete and college football, then I think you can do it. But if you’re biased by a specific conference, or if you’re impacted by making all your decisions based on revenue or earnings, then you’re never going to get to a good place.”
JAMES ON BEAU
Beau Pribula rushes for his eventual first half touchdown.
“Beau Pribula has been a phenomenal teammate, has been a big reason why we are where we are right now. Parents, awesome. High school coach, awesome. Being a backup quarterback is not an easy thing to do, and he hasn’t approached it that way. Had so much confidence within our team based on how he went about his business. He prepared like he was the starter, which again, we talk about all the time but is easier said than done. He also, in my opinion, is a man’s man. He came into my office, had multiple conversations last week about this process.
We talked last week. (Pribula) had no intentions of leaving. But we have problems in college football. I can give you my word, Beau Pribula did not want to leave our program and he did not want to leave our program until the end of the season. But the way the portal is and the timing of it and the way our team is playing and when you play the position of quarterback and there’s only one spot and those spots are filling up. He felt he was put in a no-win situation and I agreed with him. Which, No. 1, I hate for him. I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the student-athlete, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of college football.”
CONCERN FOR THE GAME
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: James Franklin
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Franklin expressed doubt that the people running college football have the best interest for the players at heart.
“I think that’s our challenge right now, right?” Franklin said. “Who is really running college football and making the best decisions for the student athletes and for our sport as a whole. Beau should not be put in this position. Whether we don’t play as many games during the season, whether we don’t play conference championships which could actually equal things out because of the teams that aren’t playing them anyway, whether we finish the season and that it aligns more with the academic calendar at most institutions because that’s part of the pressure as well. To have a transfer portal/free agency going on right in the middle of the playoffs there’s just a lot of things that don’t really make sense.”
For James Franklin, the system failed Pribula.
“Beau Pribula wanted to come to Penn State his whole life,” he said. “This is his dream school, and (he) had a phenomenal career here. I just want everybody to understand that most important. Why have we created a system, where this guy couldn’t finish the season with his team?
“I hate it. I do. I hate it for him, I hate it for Penn State but I also don’t think it’s the right thing for college football. “I’m concerned for college football right now, in general, and I think a lot of people are.”
Penn State-SMU is scheduled for noon at Beaver Stadium on TNT and HBO Max.
