By Mark Pszonak
Just when you thought that the NCAA couldn’t look any worse, something new happens to prove that wrong. On Sunday night, Penn State back-up quarterback Beau Pribula announced that he would be entering the transfer portal. This alone wouldn’t be an issue, except that he is a big part of the team, which happens to be preparing for a playoff game this weekend.
— Beau Pribula (@beauprib) December 16, 2024
Once again, the NCAA is to blame for this absurdity, not Pribula. The current transfer window closes on December 28th. If Penn State wins on Saturday against SMU, which they’re favored to do, they would be playing their semifinal game on December 31st.
Could he have waited to make his announcement until after the SMU game in case the Nittany Lions lost? Yes, an argument can be made for that. Also, for playoff teams, there is an additional five-day window that Pribula could have used but there is one huge problem with that. It is a safe assumption that by late December/early January most schools will have already filled their quarterback needs through the portal which would give Pribula limited options. That’s the same situation with the April portal window, as schools prefer to have their quarterback situation settled by then so that they can use the spring practice as rehearsal for the season.
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It is easy to point fingers at Pribula for being the problem, but he is looking out for his own future. He wants to be a starter in 2025 and transferring helps solidify that. And because of the NCAA calendar, he doesn’t have another logical option.
However, there is one potential flaw to this argument. With his announcement, it is being assumed that Drew Allar has decided that he will return to Penn State in 2025 instead of going to the NFL. That would be a surprise, as Allar’s draft stock has risen in the last few weeks. And why would Allar make this decision now? It is not crazy to think that he excels against SMU, Boise State and whoever Penn State would play in the National Championship game, which would make his draft stock rise even further. Would he really still come back?
But again, none of this would need to be discussed if the NCAA made a more reasonable portal schedule. The windows were installed to limit the chaos. Supposedly having the portal open throughout the year wasn’t working, so the windows would help. Instead, it has made things worse. It was proven when Marshall had to opt-out of their bowl game and it was solidified by Pribula’s decision.
The biggest issue is this though, the NCAA won’t do anything about it. They’ll have their meetings but nothing of value will be done. Because of this, get used to the absurdity, because it is here to stay.
