UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) — It’s officially a new season for Penn State Football, who opened up spring practice on Tuesday. For the first time since 2019 Penn State has a new starting quarterback as the Nittany Lions hand the keys to five star recruit Drew Allar.

In limited action last year, Allar completed 58% of his passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns. As he steps up, so does Beau Pribula who is expected to be Allar’s backup. Pribula maintained his full eligibility after redshirting last year and could carve out a role this year, and head coach James Franklin said we could see Pribula get more snaps than Allar towards the end of the spring.

“I think there are some things that that we may want to do with Beau to take advantage of his skill set and maybe, you know, create an opportunity for him to get some more experience,” said Franklin. “You know, not only during spring ball, but in games next year as well.”

Allar, Pribula, and true freshman Jaxon Smolik are the only three quarterbacks on Penn State’s roster this spring. Franklin said he plans to split the reps evenly this spring. Their limited experience, while not unusual this time of year, does put a little added emphasis on the next 15 practices.

“It’s not about the offense winning, the defense winning,” Franklin said. “It’s you know, now, don’t get me wrong, once we get to competition, let’s get after it. But my point is, there shouldn’t be any surprises, right? Like, Manny should know what the offense is installing so he can have his players prepared for it. Mike should have a very good understanding of what Manny and the defense are installing.”

This is the first of 15 spring practices for Penn State, which will end on April 15th with the annual Blue-White Game.