Penn State true freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer is getting positive reviews from coaches and teammates as the Nittany Lions round the final bend into the last week of spring practice.
“Grunkemeyer is really flashing and doing some nice things right now as a true freshman quarterback,” Penn State coach James Franklin said of the Ohio native recently. “What I’m most excited about is he showing flashes right now; how is he going to be in the summer, when he’s had really kind of all spring and all early summer to grind on the playbook, grind on the installs? Watch a ton of Kansas tape. Watch a ton of Penn State tape. Where will those guys be?”
While there’s no real anticipation that Grunkemeyer will legitimately factor into Penn State’s plans over the course of the 2024 season, he does provide more depth to a quarterback room that will reportedly be without sophomore Jaxon Smolik due to a long term injury. Grunkemeyer will likely slot behind backup Beau Pribula, and given Pribula’s workload in 2023, which featured 56 rushing attempts, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Pribula could find himself sidelined with an injury of his own.
Whether or not that transpires remains to be seen, but returning starter and fellow Ohio product Drew Allar has been impressed with Grunkemeyer’s spring so far.
“He [has] done a lot of good things,” Allar said this week. “He’s learning on the fly right now and he’s doing a really good job of handling everything and doing a really good job of being prepared for everything and asking really good questions throughout our quarterback meetings … obviously he’s going through that transition [having] early enrolled, but he’s doing a really good job. He’s delivering the ball on time. And he’s learning from the reps where he may have maybe made a mistake and he knows now the difference between college defenses and high school defenses and it’s really cool to see that just because the natural progression from practice one to practice nine has been really cool to see. He’s definitely got a bright future ahead of him.”
While it might not impact Penn State’s immediate future at the quarterback position, that doesn’t mean that Grunkemeyer having a solid year of development won’t benefit the Nittany Lions in the long run. The status of Penn State’s quarterback room in 2025 is a conversation for a different day with Allar eligible to return and Smolik, Pribula and Grunkemeyer all waiting in the wings, but for now the Nittany Lions will be happy to have as many quarterbacks as they can get their hands on. Especially in a transfer portal world where starting opportunities are around every corner.
So for now, it’s one day, one practice, one rep, at a time for the youngest gunslinger in the room.
“We want him to come in and compete,” Franklin said on signing day. “We want all of our guys to come in and compete. But, worst-case scenario, if he doesn’t, if he can sit behind and learn for a year and then be competing for that following spring, then that’s not all bad, either.”
