Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - COLLISION: Clemson and Penn State on COLLISION COURSE for CFP Clash | Who Will DOMINATE?

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

PENN STATE FOOTBALL: Dark Horse CFP Contender? Nittany Lions' Path to Glory AnalyzedIs Penn State primed for a College Football Playoff run? Host Alex Donno and guests Kenton Gibbs and Zach Seiko break down the Nittany Lions' chances, comparing them to ACC powerhouses Clemson and Miami. The trio dissects quarterback battles, with Drew Allar, Cade Klubnik, and Carson Beck under the microscope. Penn State's defensive upgrades and offensive firepower take center stage, while Clemson's returning production and Miami's potential resurgence add intrigue to the CFP race.Don't miss this in-depth analysis of Penn State's road to the College Football Playoff and how they stack up against top ACC contenders. Tune in for expert insights on the teams, players, and matchups that could reshape the college football landscape this season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Penn State dominated SMU in the college football playoff last year. But here's what happens in 2025 if they see Clemson or Miami. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team, every day. Shout out to the Everydayers, and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC and Locked on Nittany Lions, your first listen. Every Dayers, we love you. This is an epic crossover event.

I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cains and Locked on ACC. Kenton Gibbs from Locked on ACC and Locked on Wolfpack and the great Zach Saco from Locked on Nittney Lions. And heck, Penn State, they took on and beat a team from the ACC in the CFP last year. History could repeat itself. This episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app,

create an account and use code Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase. We'll talk about possible quarterback matchups. Drew Aller versus Cade Klupnik or Carson Beck. We'll talk about game matchups, how that could go down. And it might not necessarily be Clemson or Miami. There could be a dark horse that could sneak in. And Zach, I want to start with you on this because obviously there's a pretty good chance, a great chance the ACC is going to get a team, maybe two teams in the CFP.

But what about Penn State? In it last year, made a little bit of a run, fell to Notre Dame before the championship game. how do you handicap the Nittany Lions Road to get to a second straight CFP this year? Well, and Penn State wasn't that far off, right? They only lost by three points. And because of a couple bad throws by Drew Aller, I mean, Penn State, if he gets one of those, if he gets a Mulligan on the Nicholas Singleton touchdown where he dumps it off into the flat because then that gives Penn State the lead or just doesn't throw the interception,

Penn State might go on to win that game against Notre Dame. And we're talking about a different scenario here. But I think this team picks off, picks up right where they left off. They got to the national semifinal. That nucleus, that core that propelled them there aside from Abdul Carter and Tyler Warren, but Dr. Aller, both your superstar running backs, a new starting cast of veteran wide receivers. These aren't inexperienced playmakers.

There's no debating, okay, what can they do? What can't they do? And you guys should be familiar with Trevor Pena to an extent. And then you get those up and. incoming breakout stars at the tight end position to take over for Tyler Warren. But I think this team is built on the fact that you have an offensive line that's returning 80% of its production more technically, but you only have four out of the five starters, but you have some other rotational guys.

And then you get Jim Knowles, you add him to the defense and you make them better. And other superstars will emerge where Abdul Carter is gone. Deni Dennis Sutton takes over in that role. Zane Durant, other guys will emerge, but it's how Penn Penn State finished in that semi-final last year and looks like a better team on paper going into this season. So you talk about Penn State looking like a better team on paper this year. By the way, you're welcome as the ACC guys, we'll let you know.

Trevor Pena, exactly. We'll let you know seeing Trevor Pena leave the ACC was hurtful for us, but we're just glad that he's happy. Y'all take care of them, okay? But with the improved roster, you all aren't the only ones that improved. the nation, but specifically in the big team, right? Michigan seems to have their answer at quarterback with Underwood coming in. Ohio State, you know, is the national champion.

They're the defending national champions. So you look at that situation and multiple others throughout the Big Ten. You go all the way to the West Coast with USC getting better as well, according to most. And you say to yourself, where is, how much more do you think Penn State improved than the teams around them? Or do you think that they just kept pace in terms of, hey, We did not slide back in our spot, but we also didn't gain ground on anybody. Where would you stand on? I would say Penn State should be expected to be the best team in the Big Ten going into this season

and has a case to be number one overall aside to Texas. I think it's either Penn State or Texas. And it's not because, okay, Ohio State, while they're the defending national champion, you are breaking in a new quarterback, new offensive coordinator play caller, and a new defensive coordinator, and you lost a bulk of that nucleus that Penn State brings back. So Michigan did it with J.J. McCarthy and company, Ohio State did get Will Howard, but they had, they had that nucleus of Jack Sawyer, JT, Too E, Moloowal, and that's what Penn State is mimicking. They're mirroring that where you have the veteran quarterback, you have the consistency

amongst the coordinators in Andy Codell Nikki, but then you upgrade now with Jim Nulls. You take that away from Ohio State, right? You took that piece of the puzzle away from the team that's been a thorn in your side for the longest, I'm believe, be able to be able to. long time. So I think Penn State has the right. It has the case to be considered the best team in the Big Ten. Now they just got to prove it. Yeah. And then, of course, you look on the ACC side, the top college football playoff contenders. You start with the Clemson Tigers who, you know, won the conference last year. You know, they got outed by Texas in the opening round of the CFP last year. It's a closer game than people remembered based on the score, but obviously outplayed and rightfully put away.

but we think Clemson is probably a little bit better than they were a season ago. And a big part of that is continuity. They returned the highest percentage of last year's production of any team in America, which is saying something, including their quarterback, Cade Clubnick, returning. So, you know, there are reasons why Clemson, who won the conference last year, are favored to do so again. Most of the odds makers would have Miami, which is a very talented football team. I know that better than anyone, they tend to underachie.

but Miami rightfully so, I think, are sort of, you know, the second team in that pecking order who could potentially wind up winning the conference or at least making the college football playoff. And, you know, I mean, Zach, the answer is probably Clemson, but I mean, which team from the ACC would you prefer not to face and why and talk about those possible matchups? I mean, Clemson for all the same reasons that I just laid out for Penn State. If you now continue to do my due diligence, I feel like there's a little bit of time here to make those overall season predictions. But I don't think it's crazy to think that for most people,

I think the Chuck championship game should be Clemson and Penn State. I really think between Kate Klobnik and Drew Aller, Davosweeney, and James Franklin shouldn't be in the same. They're both top 10 head coaches. They both are. If Davosweeney is that much further ahead. But it's those, hello, Tom Allen. It's the combination of coordinators.

Andy Codell Nikki and Jim Knowles, I think, formed the best coordinator duo in the entire country. So all of the pressure isn't necessarily on James Franklin to be that big, big game coach to be a huge X's and O's guys. Why he gets to delegate to some of the best minds in college football as his assistants. They also shored up the assistant staff as well. I mean, you could argue that Penn State has the best coaching staff. Clemson has the same case. You have Kate Klubnik. You have the impressive wide receivers that he gets to throw to.

He gets to throw to superstar wide receivers where, you know, Penn State gets serviceable better. He's got a superstar supporting cast. And it's also the defense there. The defensive line for Clemson, that's the group that's always going to stand out to me with Tamerian Parker and Peter Woods. Peter Woods, if I'm not mistaken, there in the middle. Those two guys kind of like the I, Dennis Sutton,

and Zane Durant. I mean, that's almost 1A, 1B in terms of that dynamic duo tandem on the defensive line in the country. So when you look at Penn State, if I were an ACC team or if I were an ACC fan list of this right now, I'm thinking, oh, Penn State. state's going cruise to the championship. There's no doubt in my mind. Zach Seiko has sold. But play devil's advocate for me a little bit. What is it that you worry about with Penn State where

you say, you know, if Penn State does not end up accomplishing Big Ten Championship, national championship appearance, all those things, this will very likely be the reason why. Defensive line depth and the detackle spot if I had to circle. And it's it's not an egregious concern. But if you go down. one player for an ex. Zane Durant. I think Zane Durant's kind of almost that make or break player on the defense this year because they have depth of defensive end. They shored up the linebacker spot with another ACCC player in Amari Campbell.

But when they run a 425, when you have that anchor in the middle to be that three down defensive tackle, and if you lose, I mean, the same could probably be said for Clemson as well. So that would be the concern there is Zane Durant and then the domino effect of being able to stop rushing attacks that are just that are better than average if you do lose an. anchor like him in the middle. But Jim Knowles has been around a long time and can make the adjustments on defensive he needs to. Well, I want to get to when we come back, because, you know, Clemson would be, you know, the chalk pick to be the first ACC team in and the one that could make the deepest run. Let's talk about the other contenders from Miami to Louisville to possibly SMU

getting back into the dance this year. You want to keep it locked. This is an epic crossover. We got locked on Nittney Lions. We got locked on ACC. You want to keep it locked right here on the Lockdown Podcast network. Folks, the only place where Kenton, Zach, and I buy tickets is game time. We're getting the best deals. We're getting the best prices and the best features. The panoramic view from your seat that you get in the app is game changing. The lowest price guarantee is another game changer.

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Lowest price guaranteed. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. And make sure for your next listen, you're a locked on ACC listener. Make sure you check out locked on nitty lions. same for Locked on Nittney Lions. Make sure you check out Locked on ACC. So much good content happening across this network. All right. So we've made the obvious case for Clemson to make it to the college football playoff and, you know, possibly see Penn State there. In terms of what it would take for a Miami to make a deep run, obviously Miami does not have the luxury of continuity in most places that Clemson does.

The new starting quarterback in Carson Beck, who, you know, I know, I know. I know Kenton loves to rag on my guy, Beck, but Kenton, the intelligence, I'm here in the intel from the off-season workouts, no physical limitations, full recovery from the elbow surgery, and he's doing well. And obviously he's got some catching up to do building timing with his receivers because he was not able to throw during spring practice. So Carson's working a little bit from behind, but supposedly doing very well. We'll find out more when fall camp begins. And the big thing for Miami fellas, and the reason why they weren't in the college football playoff last year was, because the defense couldn't stop a nosebleed a year ago. And, you know, a bunch of teams.

We talked about Clemson, defensive coordinator change. You know, Penn State had to make a defensive coordinator change and a darn good one getting Noles in there. Miami also had to make a defensive coordinator change. They take Corey Heatherman out of Minnesota and the Big Ten, who had a good Golden Gophers defense last year. They seemed to like his scheme so far. Miami brought in a ton of defensive secondary players, safeties and cornerbacks through the transfer portal, some linebackers as well, like Muhammad Torre, who played for Heatherman at Rutgers a couple of years ago. So, I mean, it's, guys, it's all about getting the parts to fit because we've been having this conversation about Miami for the last 20 years.

Like with the talent usually being in there, it's all about, you know, the right mix of coaching. It's about the right chemistry. So we'll obviously find out more when the season begins. But there's a reason why Miami is usually right behind Clemson when they handicap the conference. And if the hurricanes can actually, you know, not underachieve, at least achieve, if not overachieve this year, we could be talking about a college football playoff run. Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. And I think when I look at that Miami team, you know, the biggest issues were addressed from last season.

The only problem is the biggest star, the biggest propeller, the biggest, hey, I can, I'm going to do my atlas impression to put the world on my back from last year. and Cam Ward is now a Tennessee type. So, you know, Xavier Strepo, a guy who's all throughout the record books, he's not going as well. But I will tell you this, Miami and Penn State have one thing in common, returning a ton of talent in the trenches. And I would say even more so in Miami's case, because defensive line-wise,

I think that that is they are primed to be one of the best defensive lines in the nation. So I would not be surprised at all to see Miami get there. The only question mark they have not. how do you replace Cam Ward, right? Even if Carson Beck is fully healthy, fully healthy Carson Beck, do we believe that he is above the level

of what Cam Ward was last year? That's to be seen. Yeah. I want to chime in there because I buy into Carson Beck because Georgia's wide receivers couldn't catch a cold, right? They led the nation and drops. So at some point, you drop the ball in the bread basket and then the player drops the football.

So I'm going to buy into, to Carson Beck making this team better. Do I think he's a number one overall selection like Cam Ward is? And somebody that can do all of those crazy superstar-esque type of things. And ad lib, no, I don't think that either. But I think there's, you know, the margin of error and another year just under his belt, I think, I think Beck gets a bad rep. And it's kind of, it's almost like Drew Aller to an extent that the supporting cast wasn't

helping him out outside of Tyler Warren. Okay. The other receivers weren't doing enough. we saw that in the Notre Dame game. So if Carson Beck's Dylan with the same kind of, the same kind of situation, at least he was at Georgia that wasn't getting enough help. He was taking the blame for it.

He got hurt in the process. So I think if Miami can keep him upright, this team, I look at that schedule and it's like, they just need to gel. Now, I'm a little more, I'm a little more concerned about Clemson than I am Miami. If I had to choose the two, I'd rather face Miami than I'd rather face Clemson

if I'm a Penn State fan. So, but if they can just, hey, you know, maybe make a surprise against Notre Dame, who knows, but that schedule doesn't look daunting to me for Miami. They, they could, I could theoretically see them losing only one game against that Notre Dame team. Yeah. And that's, I know you're over there in the Big Ten where the schedules are tough. That Miami's ACC schedule with out-of-conference games like Notre Dame and Florida. That's one of the tougher schedules in the ACC.

So that's just, that's just the life we live. Absolutely. Absolutely. So with the way that we are talking about Clemson and Miami as potential opponents for Penn State and players, and I don't want to put words in your mouth here, Zach. So I want to ask you, is there any other team in the ACC that you look at and you'd say, but after dismantling of SMU last year, 11-win team, you know, Paffir's runner-up, is there any other team that you look at that say, hmm, they give us some problems?

You got to look out for them if we see them on the horizon in terms of, you know, just coming in there preseason blank slate. Is there anybody that would, you know, say, hey, that that team would give Penn State all they could handle it, maybe even more? If you want me to be honest, no. I really think it's Clemson. There's a gap. Then Miami, then an even larger gap.

But I will give my due respect because SMU is returning, Kevin Jennings. I think that guy is a dark horse contender for the Heisman because of what he can do. He just got set up with a bad situation against Penn State. That doesn't define who he is as a quarterback. just because of one bad game. I mean, SMU had a bad game all around. It wasn't just on Kevin Jennings. So with that being said, I think the Miller Moss to Louisville is intriguing. I'm interested to see how that plays out. But I really do think the only serious contenders to, I think that Miami could win a game in the CFP, could get, you know, get, I don't think they'd get a buy. They would win a game in the CFP and then probably get knocked out in the second round.

But then Clemson's, Clemson is legitimately a team that I say, Penn State and Clemson could absolutely meet in a semifinal or all the way in the championship. That's what I think of the Tigers. By the way, Kenton, I hope a little earlier when Zach was talking about Carson Beck and the supporting cast, I hope you were taking notes. Because every time we talk about him, all you do is dog, the young man. When Zach knows Carson Beck's receiving core in Georgia last year led the nation and drops, they literally led the nation and drops. Give the man a little help and he can do something for you this year. Oh, don't worry.

Zach's quarterback is not safe either. That's the beauty of today's episode. Zach's sitting up there on his high horse, telling us how good Penn State is, and he's right to do so. You know what? You know what? Hold that thought,

because I want to dive into the quarterback possibilities when we come back, from Drew Aller to Cade Clubnick, who is one of those Heisman front, and as is Aller, by the way, two of the Heisman front runners to Carson Beck, you want to keep it locked right here, my friends. Locked on ACC, Locked on Nittney Lions crossover right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. All right.

I'm going to let Kenton start this one off because you've got strong opinions. We've heard your opinions on Locked on ACC about Carson Beck. We've actually, even on Locked on ACC, we've heard Kenton's opinions on Drew Allen. So dealer's choice, KG, which one do you want to start with? Well, here's the thing. Everybody knows how I feel about Beck. And I just said, I think that the kid is good. I think he's good enough.

I don't think that he's very good to elite. and I believe the exact same thing about Drew Allen. Let me explain to you how big the Drew Aller hype has gotten this offseason. There are multiple people who have national platforms saying, Drew Aller is so good if he would have went in last year's draft, he would have been the number one pick. You want to know how I know that's not true? Because he didn't enter the draft.

But I digress. Jack, I do want to let let off one statement, and I'm going to let you cook after this, because I know that, you know, this is going to get some big reaction. I don't already pissed off pit fans and telling him Kenny Pick,

it wasn't the first round pick years ago. So I'm going to go ahead and get Penn State. I'm going to get the whole Pennsylvania because I thought that we could bond over our head of Ohio, but Pennsylvania don't want to do that. So that's okay. That's what I thought we was going to do. But, you know, that's okay.

So I look at, I look at Drew out, and many people tell me, hey, he's the guy, he's this, he's that. I legitimately say, going into last year's game against Notre Dame. If it comes down to quarterback play, Notre Dame is going to win this game. And everybody looked at me like I was crazy.

They said, there's no way that Riley Leonard outperforms Drew Aller. And I said, Riley Leonard won't kill Notre Dame. Drew Aller absolutely can and probably will kill Penn State here. Objectively speaking, I think you and I can agree. He killed them in the big game. Three interceptions, one of which was called back because of a pass interference. What do you say to people who are in my camp that are saying, hey, we've seen Drew Aller beat up on nobody's. We've seen Drew Aller have a so-so game against Ohio State.

But overall, we have not seen Drew Allen show up for the biggest moments. Even if you talk about against SMU, that running game was mawling SMU. I believe y'all averaged, what, seven and a half to eight yards of carry something crazy like that? So what do you say to the thought of, hey, if you have to make a lot of, hey, if you have to make a lot of, make Drew Aller beat you, and he couldn't do it with two running backs that are probably going to be first two round picks, a tight end that's a first round pick, he'll never do it. What's your report to that? I mean, Drew is a better version of himself. I mean, let's start there. So the guy's going to, he has that experience. He has that moment specifically against Notre Dame to say, if you let that

one continue to bite you for the rest of your career, then you're not legitimate. And we're not going to know until it's actually on the football field. But I do believe that the adversity does make football players better. So I truly believe that Aller will be better because of that Notre Dame game and not worse because of it. He has the offensive line. He has the supporting cast again. We know that Trevor Pena, Kairn Hudson, and somebody that isn't going to get enough credence early on, Devonte Ross, he's a group of five receiver, but that guy's a speedster. Those guys are so much better than what Penn State had with Trey Wallace, Amari Evans, and then whoever else. You pick a, you pick a random receiver that was in that rotation last year that they couldn't hold a candle to any of these three

players and particularly Trevor Pena, right? The all the all ACC receiver. So now you take all those complimentary parts together. But this is about Drew Aller. So Aller's supporting cast is better. The continuity, the consistency with his OC and Andy Codal Nicky who started to open up that potential a little bit for Aller. I think back to Mack Jones. When we looked at it, Mac Jones is a first round pick the steam that was there for the 49ers to trade up into the top three and go get him. He ended up what being selected 14th or 15th overall. I can't remember exactly. But did we get fooled to an extent because Devante Smith was running wide open at all

times. If Aller had a player like that, we wouldn't have these kind of issues. Now, would we? We wouldn't be having this discussion. So he can hit those players when they are open. But when they're covered, they're blanketed, Aller's better off throwing an incompletion then throwing multiple, multiple, multiple interceptions. And that's one of his best attributes is decision making and protecting the football.

Aside for, again, the Notre Dame game is one. But you look at the rest of his film, well, he doesn't turn the ball over a lot. He's actually pretty safe with it. So that's that's where I would, that's where I'll say that Aller is, he has the better, he has the supporting cast that can finally take that pressure off of him. What, if we segue to Cade Clubnik, you know, he has a lot of the things. that Drew Aller didn't have last year, that Carson Beck didn't necessarily have last year at Georgia. He's got one of the best wide receiver trios in the entire country.

He's also got that continuity from offensive coordinator to dabbo. They've been together now for multiple years. He and Garrett Riley, the O.C. And something about Clubnick's game that I think came to light a little bit more last year is his ability to run the football. Because a lot of times, you know, Kenton, we talked about it last. season, oftentimes clubnik had to be Clemson's best running back at times in addition to being their quarterback. Now, in terms of Clubnik, not only is he, he's a very good quarterback. I don't necessarily think he's a guy who's going to set the NFL on fire in a couple of years, but he's a very

good quarterback in a great situation. And I think that's a deadly combination. Like if you just take his talent in a vacuum versus a guy like Cam Ward last year, I don't think it's apples to apples. But, you know, Kade Klobnik is an excellent quarterback who's in one of the better situations in the country. And I think that's why he's expected to be one of the top pastors in the game this year. Yeah, I will tell you this. I look at K. Klubnick and I see, you and I disagree on what we could see his ceiling being in the league, because I think he could be a guy necessity. Last year, his biggest, the biggest knock on him was decision making.

Everything else, we saw it. Even when he was a young, young pup, we saw the arm strength. saw the wheels. It was just applying it in the silliest and goofiest ways. We're like, why don't you pull the ball there? You know, I, I know, I, I know you're a Miami guy. I'm sure you remember that Reed option that wasn't an option where there were three guys standing on the head just waiting there. He's like, I'm on a bullet. I can run through all three of them. And it's like, what are we doing there? And by the way, and dabbo, dabble threw him under the bus after that too. He was like,

that's on game. That was all him. He went rogue. But like Zach said, great players don't let that one moment to find them. And that is one thing that I have to give Kay Clef to his credit for because he came back and bounced back from that. I see him as a guy that he's finally putting together all the things that we saw. And biggest difference between him and what we saw out of Drew Aller late in the playoffs, he was a playoff riser. When he got to the college football playoffs, he threw as many touchdowns against Texas

secondary darn near as they had allowed all season. That's an actual stat. Look that up. I believe they allowed four the entire regular season playing in the SEC and he threw three. That's the type of guy that we're talking about right now. So when I look at Kay Klebnik, I absolutely look at a guy that can ball. And I'm going to be very honest. And I know people are going to say, oh, he's rage baiting.

He's trying to get the fans who are saying again. I see Drew Aller as a guy. If he was in the ACC, I would see him as quarterback. I'd say 3A. I'd say 3A with Haynes King. that's where I probably have him in that. So hold on on that. So if you've got Clubnik one,

who do you have two then? Oh, Kevin Jennings. Kevin Jennings is definitely my two guy. The more film that was on. What are you by guy, Beck? Is he chopped liver? No, no. I think Beck is a strong four.

I think Beck is a strong four. I really do. This is the thing. Everybody thinks that I hate, you know, Carson Beck, and I hate Doreatta. I don't dislike these guys.

I hope they have all the success that they go out there and achieve. I just, from the film, I just don't see the vision on like he was so good. He would have been the number one pick last year. That's hogwash. No player is coming back to college if they were going to be the number one pick in the draft.

Nobody. I don't care how you cut it, how you slice it. That just doesn't happen. Allow me to the response. So he would have gone in if there was a bit of a guarantee that he was going to be the number one. There was chatter. There was interest, but he wanted that guarantee that he was going to be number one. And I don't think he was pushing Cam Ward.

This last year's version of Drew Aller was was not near that version of Cam Ward going into the NFL draft. Could Drew, on potential alone, warrants that top 10, top 15 from last season. I think the same thing is going to be said in this year's NFL draft when that cycle rolls around again. So Aller will be in play to be the number one pick this time around. So will Cade Plutnik. Carson Beck, I think he could sneak back into the first round because there was chatter that he was a first round QB once upon a time. If we're talking about college football skill set, because long-term, Aller, Clubnik, Beck, and Cam Ward,

had those first round or top NFL draft pick caliber of profiles. Kevin Jennings, I do need to see him more as a decision-maker. It's kind of a one-read and go, but the athleticism is there, all of the other things. So that decision-making and pure accuracy and throwing ability because I think Drew Aller is the best pure passer from a lot. talent standpoint, but okay, how does he respond when he's under a little bit of adversity? You know, does he have, does it, because I think Alar's biggest enemy is between,

is up in the helmet. It's between the ears. So if Aller can build, and that's what I mean, you hit the lowest of lows on national TV against Notre Dame, you better overcome that adversity or you won't, you won't measure up in the NFL. Guys will get in your head immediately and you will fizzle out. but I'm going to, I think I'm going to give the optimism, the optimistic look that Aller is going to learn because of that moment. So I think Alar is one of the clubnik, Aller, earn that tier one of quarterbacks with Archmanning.

Now you can debate who's actually number one. That's fine. But I think in tier one, those three are in there alongside of some others, you know, that I can't come up with off the top of my head. I want to say this about the situation here with, you know, Drew Aller and where he is and all that. My biggest question mark about him, it feels like you mentioned Mac Jones earlier. It feels a lot like that in that Penn State has created a lot of very good situations for him. We can say, hey, his receivers weren't getting open all that month. You've got a Mackey Award winning title.

If you don't look at the, I believe he won the Mackey. Did he not? Am I incorrect there? He won the Mackey and he was seven than the Heisman voting. Okay, perfect. So you've got a pass catcher that is, all of that. And then you've got two backs that, I mean, pick your poison. Which one do you want? How do you want it? How do you feel? These two can give it to you any way you want it. And I sit here and I say to myself, we looked at him and objectively on the biggest stage, he was the Achilles Hill. That to me is worrisome because it has me with the question of if things need to be perfect for you to succeed, how can I draft you how? If I've got the number one pick, you're going to have to make things happen. They're going to have to make things happen. Things aren't going to be on schedule.

You're not going to have a receiving core that they look at and say, oh, man, you know, we're great receiving core, great offensive line. It's just so happy that we lost 15 games last year out of nowhere. You know, so that's my biggest concern in terms of him being that guy. Was there chatter about him being a number one? I'm sure it was. Every golden boy that 6-4-65 can move a little bit in the pocket and can hit a wide-open receiver. They're going to say,

is he Josh Allen? Did we see Josh Allen-esque? What do we have here? But I'm not sure that that necessarily pans out going forward, which is, again, very similar to my complaints with Carson Beck. And that, hey, he did have receivers with drop problems, but he also had three offensive linemen drafts in the top 100 picks. He did have guys where you say, man, these guys are not giving them a great running game.

Okay, great. But that defense continues to turn out. at least three first round picks per drive. So it's like what, how much do we give you credit for for succeeding in a great situation? Right. Well, no doubt. And I, I love the comparisons and I really hope we get some of these matchups. Like I hope, you know, we fast forward four or five months.

We're not talking about Penn State taking on a team other than Miami or Clemson or Louisville or SMU. So I hope we get one of these. And always a great time to connect with you, fellas. And we hadn't seen Zach, we did some of those postgame shows, you know, the three of us, you know, after college football playoff games last season. Hopefully we can do that again. So make sure you follow Locked on Nittney Lions and Zach Seiko, Zach underscore Saco on X. Make sure you follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton. Check him out on Locked on ACC with me.

Follow me at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you all next time on another episode of Locked on Nittney Lions or Locked on ACC, part of the awesome Lockedon podcast network. Your team. every day.