Penn State Football: O’Brien in no Hurry to Name Starting Quarterback

We’ve waited all winter long and with spring practice finally set to begin Penn State coach Bill O’Brien is starting his second season at the helm. O’Brien met with reporters today to talk about his team’s progress.

Beyond the ever present NCAA sanctions, Penn State will face a lot of challenges, like any other college football program; chief among these will be finding new team leaders and picking a new signal caller to run the Nittany Lion offense.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s a concern,” O’Brien said about replacing leaders. “I think that it’s more that every year is different. There are a lot of guys still on this team that played a lot of football for us last year. Now it’s just time for some of the younger guys to develop and step up.”

For Penn State, this season marks the first since an emotional roller coaster saw a 0-2 start turn in to one of the great sports stories of the year. O’Brien sees that all as water under the bridge, and thinks his team is ready to focus on what is right in front of it.

“I definitely get the sense that our players are ready to practice for 2013,” O’Brien said. “It was a really good start to a new era and we owe a lot to the seniors, and we won eight of the last 10, but at the end of the day, we were 8-4. We started the season 0-2. We have a lot to improve on.”

One of the key story lines of this off-season is the arrival of highly touted quarterback recruit Christian Hackenberg. While the Fork Union native won’t arrive on campus until June, giving him little time to grasp the offense, O’Brien isn’t keeping him out of the mix. Unlike last year when he named Matt McGloin his starter following the spring, O’Brien is in no hurry to name a starter this time around.

“Certainly, he’ll be in the mix,” O’Brien said of Hackenberg who will compete with returning signal caller Steven Bench and incoming junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson. “At every single position, we’re going to play the best players. We’ll give him some reps and see how he does, certainly.”

With snow falling inside of Beaver Stadium and covering the Lasch Building practice field, the Nittany Lions will start “Spring” practice Monday afternoon indoors. While O’Brien might prefer the fresh air and sunlight to artificial lighting and snow, it’s finally football again for the second year head coach.

“I’m just excited to be off of the banquet circuit and be back on the field coaching,” O’Brien said. “What we all love to do is coach and be on the field and watch these guys improve day-to-day.”