What's in store at QB after Penn State lands 2023 recruit Smolik?

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State had to do some scrambling with its quarterback recruiting over the past month, but it still wound up in pretty good shape.

The Nittany Lions already were in really good shape for the next few years with their QB room, and now they've got the one piece they were missing -- a signal caller for the class of 2023.

Penn State got a commitment Friday from 3-star prospect Jaxon Smolik of Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. Smolik is a 6-foot-2, 200-pounder who came on strong of late in the recruiting process and decommitted from Tulane earlier this week.

Penn State appeared to be all set at QB for this recruiting cycle with 4-star prospect Marcus Stokes committed. But Stokes, who attends the same high school in Florida that produced Tim Tebow, decommitted from Penn State in early July after receiving late interest from Florida. He wound up signing with the Gators.

So, Penn State found itself needing a quarterback in this class, and had to wait until another signal caller did what Stokes had done -- get an offer from a school he liked a lot better.

Smolik committed to Tulane on June 23, after receiving no offers from Power 5 programs. This is what 247Sports had written about his recruitment and why he wasn't getting more offers:

"Somewhat limited high school film going into his senior year as he rotated as a sophomore and had to work back from an injury as a junior but has flashed high level efficiency and ability. Completed over 65% of his passes with a 9 touchdown to 2 interception ratio as a junior. Has supplemented that by throwing well in camp settings."

Smolik had an outstanding showing at the Elite 11 Finals in June, then saw his recruiting stock grow.

He attended a camp at Penn State two weeks ago and impressed the coaching staff enough to earn an offer on July 31. That was enough for Smolik to decide to decommit from Tulane, and once he did that, many expected he would indeed commit to the Lions.

Smolik is only a 3-star prospect right now, but he very well could earn a fourth star with a good showing during his senior year of high school.

With Smolik committed -- and presuming he does eventually sign -- this is what Penn State will be looking at with its QB situation in the coming years.

THIS SEASON

Sean Clifford is the starter. Period. He will continue to be the starter as long as Penn State is winning and he's playing well. Now, if the Lions start losing -- even if Clifford is playing well -- there certainly could be a change at QB to get one or more younger guys experience for next year.

But which younger guy would it be? Christian Veilleux, who played some last year, or No. 1 recruit Drew Allar? And there's also Beau Pribula, a 3-star player from York.

Odds are Veilleux will be the backup to start the season, but continuing to battle with Allar to keep the No. 2 job. And if the competition remains close, the coaches could feel pressure to give Allar a shot, or else potentially see the prized recruit get upset and consider transferring.

NEXT SEASON

Clifford will be gone, and the starting job presumably would be between Veilleux and Allar -- assuming both stay. We could probably expect a quarterback competition that would take place all spring and summer, then perhaps even deep into fall camp, such as we've seen in the past between Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens, or to a lesser degree between Clifford and Will Levis.

Pribula, who likely will redshirt in 2022, would be in his second season. Smolik would be in his first season, and you'd think he would redshirt.

2024 SEASON

So many things could happen between now and 2024 that it's probably silly to even try to look this far ahead, particularly in the era of the transfer portal and possibly unlimited transfers.

Will Veilleux, Allar, Pribula and Smolik all still be at Penn State in 2024?

No. It's hard to imagine that, because you'd think whoever loses the QB competition next season would have a lot of incentive to move on.

Trying to look into a crystal ball, I would see Allar as the QB next season and in 2024. Trying to guess much more beyond that is an interesting exercise, yet far too unpredictable.