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The odds of Tommy Stevens being in this spot were extremely low.
He wasn’t even supposed to be at Penn State — period — let alone heading into his final spring practice in State College as the favorite to be the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback.
His scholarship offer from coach James Franklin’s staff only came because the Lions lost their original quarterback commitment, Brandon Wimbush, to Notre Dame.
Stevens was originally staying in his home state to play at Indiana before Penn State ultimately swayed him. But that was just the start.
He redshirted, then lost a multi-month battle for the starting job with Trace McSorley. He explored his options to transfer to a school where he could start in both 2018 and 2019 last winter only to stick with the Lions.
Had the NCAA’s online transfer portal — which makes it easier to facilitate contact between players and other schools — existed last winter, Stevens might indeed have found a match and left.
“The funny thing is, Tommy Stevens is really the original transfer portal (case),” Franklin said. “But to me, he did it the way it should have always been done, and I think could still be done right now.
“He came and talked to me. Had some concerns. Wants to start. Was graduating. Had two years left of eligibility. And we said, let’s talk this through together, and what are your objectives and all these types of things.
“And we were able to come up with an understanding between the two of us — and his family and his high school coach — that, hey, look around, and if you find something that makes sense for you, then there’s nobody that’s going to be more supportive of you than us.
“And he looked around and didn’t find that and said I’m staying and kind of went from there.”
Meanwhile, a foot injury cost Stevens nearly all of 2018, keeping him in a boot during spring practice and training camp, forcing him out of the first four games of the season and limiting his effectiveness when he did return after that. He underwent surgery in December and missed the bowl game as well.
At a winter workout made open to media in February, Stevens was seen doing leg presses, a positive sign in his recovery.
But Stevens knows as well as anyone that nothing is guaranteed in college football. When the Lions open spring practice on Wednesday, Franklin said he is in line to take the first reps with the first team offense, followed by redshirt sophomore Sean Clifford.
How much Stevens will be able to participate, however, remains to be seen. Quarterback will be one of the positions in the spotlight over these 15 spring practices, culminating with the Blue-White Game on April 13.
“Every position we have an open competition,” Franklin said. “And guys will have to battle. And that’s even for returning starters. Returning starters have got to go out and they’ve got to prove that they deserve to come back and be the leader at that position. So that’s across the board.”
Midway through last season, Stevens admitted he had to fight the temptation to look ahead to 2019 and his starting shot.
“I want to prove that I belong,” Stevens said. “Prove to people that I’m supposed to be here, prove that I’m supposed to be a college football player here. That’s a big part of it for me because it’s kind of hard to believe that I’ve gotten to this point. And there’s a lot of people that didn’t think I would.
”I’ve been working my entire life to get to this moment, and I know (it’s easy to look ahead to) 2019. … I’ve been working for as long as I remember to get to this spot. I remember being a little kid, wanting to play college football. To think that I’ve gotten to this point — it’s actually a reality I’m playing football here at Penn State — sometimes it’s hard to believe.”
Odds are strong that Franklin won’t actually name a starting quarterback until the summer. Back in 2016, he had McSorley and Stevens battle it out until midway through camp. Clifford was very successful in his debut last fall, albeit with limited reps and almost entirely in mop-up time.
If the Lions elect to take things easy with Stevens as a precaution, it could give Clifford a bigger opportunity to make an impression.
“(Stevens) had a pretty significant injury,” Franklin said. “And obviously it affected his ability to continue training and developing and playing the role that we needed him to play. And it’s kind of led us to this point. So we got into a situation where Sean was able to take advantages of some of those opportunities that Tommy wasn’t available for. And now Sean has gained a lot of confidence from that experience as well.
“But I’ve got so much respect for Tommy. I’ve got so much confidence in Tommy. It’s going to be a tremendous spring. It’s going to be a tremendous summer. And I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys that we have in our quarterback room. I really do.”
Redshirt freshman Will Levis will also be in the mix with recently arrived true freshman Ta’Quan Roberson and Michael Johnson Jr. getting their first taste of college ball.
Notes
Roberson and Johnson Jr. are two of 13 true freshmen, 10 of whom who are on scholarship, on the newly released spring roster.
One of the walk-ons is linebacker Robbie Dwyer, who played at Wyoming Valley West and Wyoming Seminary before enrolling at Penn State in January. He will wear No. 39 and is one of three WVC alums on the roster along with Lake-Lehman’s Nick Eury and Kaleb Konigus.
There were few surprises on the roster. As expected C.J. Thorpe will be back at offensive line after playing the second half of 2018 at defensive tackle.
True freshman Travis Rudolph was originally listed as a cornerback when he signed in December but is now at safety.