James Franklin puts transfer portal on blast after losing backup QB ahead of CFP run

Penn State will be without its backup quarterback Beau Pribula heading into the Nittany Lions' biggest game of the season on Saturday. Pribula entered the transfer portal days before the Nittany Lions were to host to the SMU Mustangs in the No. 6 vs. No. 11 first-round College Football Playoff game. This news came around the same time that Drew Allar announced that he would be returning.

We saw something similar happen last year when former Texas backup Maalik Murphy entered the transfer portal before the Longhorns' first-ever playoff game. Murphy transferred to Duke, Texas lost in the Sugar Bowl to Washington, and now Murphy is back in the portal. There is a bit of an epidemic when it comes to the timing of all this. Obviously, James Franklin is not happy about it.

Franklin expounded upon Pribula's entry into the transfer portal during Monday's press conference.

“Beau Pribula did not want to leave our program and he did not want to leave our program until the end of the season…He felt like he was in a no win situation,”

The transfer portal need guardrails, but Pribula had also been a good soldier at Penn State up to now.

Let's make one thing perfectly clear: Penn State will only going as far as Allar's right arm takes them.

James Franklin sounds off on Beau Pribula's entry into the transfer portal

While I understand that spring semester commences sooner rather than later, there needs to be an extended transfer portal window to allow players like Pribula to finish their teams' seasons. It has become precedent for a coordinator on a playoff team's staff to serve out his term before leaving for another job. We should try and implement that when it comes to players who plan to enter the portal.

Look. With Allar announcing he is coming back to State College for at least one more season, what is a backup like Pribula to do? Stay put? Get out of here with that nonsense! Conversely, where I do sympathize with Franklin is this move made by Pribula seemed to catch him totally off-guard. Not necessarily that he entered the transfer portal, but rather the timing of if all, right before the playoff...

Yes, players do get extended runways to enter the transfer portal based on if a team is still in the playoff or if a new head coach is hired. However, it could be slim pickings when it comes to time for Pribula to find another school to attend and another team to play for. This may be Allar's team now and going forward, but we know how important depth is when it comes to winning a national title.

For better or worse, Pribula's entry into the transfer portal limits Penn State's ceiling to win it all.