Which quarterback has the best chance to start for Penn State this fall?

Friday, 08 February 2013 11:51

Written by Mark Dent

With signing day officially over, Christian Hackenberg is now a Nittany Lion. The quarterback, a consensus top-three quarterback prospect in the country, will certainly pique the most interest of those gunning for the starting position. But will he start, or even play?

Let's start by discussing the entire situation. On Wednesday, Bill O'Brien said that he probably wouldn't even be naming a starting quarterback until the fall. Along with Hackenberg, the other candidates are sophomore Steven Bench and junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson (walk-ons Austin Whipple, DJ Crook, Chris Geiss and Jack Seymour are also quarterbacks committed to play). O'Brien said the three scholarship players will basically be even, with none of them having true Division I game experience. 

"The system that we run here at Penn State is not the simplest system in the world to learn for a quarterback," O'Brien said. "He's (Hackenberg) going to have to really begin to study and understand what it takes to play quarterback at this level, which we've talked about a lot in the recruiting process. The same can be said of Tyler (Ferguson) and Steven."

Hackenberg is no doubt the most talented of the bunch. That's why he is a five star recruit. But recruiting experts have always told me that those ratings are based on projections. Hackenberg projects to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country but probably isn't ready yet. They say that other high school players who might go to much smaller schools would have a better chance of contributing immediately than Hackenberg. 

Bench and Ferguson on the other hand are more used to the college game. Bench even played a little bit against Virginia last year and drew praise from Matt McGloin for his work in practice. He wasn't recruited as heavily as Hackenberg (few are), but he is the son of a high school coach, something O'Brien constantly talked about. Because of this Bench understands football, understands some of the complex facets of an offense.  

Obviously, we're months away, but I believe this will give Bench an advantage over the other two. He's known the system for a year and is supposedly a quick learner. Maybe Hackenberg will progress so quickly that he'll start playing in the middle of the season, but it seems like Bench should have the best opportunity to start at the beginning.