Boise State, Penn State without backup quarterbacks for College Football Playoff

Boise State’s Malachi Nelson, Penn State’s Beau Pribula leave teams ahead of College Football Playoff

Former Boise State quarterback Malachi Nelson. / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff is set to begin Friday when No. 10 Indiana (11-1) travels to No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1), and at least two schools will be without their backup quarterback for the four-round tournament. 

Boise State (12-1), the CFP’s No. 3 overall seed, lost highly-touted backup Malachi Nelson to the transfer portal last week. A former five-star prospect, Nelson transferred to Boise State from USC last offseason and was beat out for the starting job by Maddux Madsen. 

Sunday evening, Beau Pribula of No. 6 Penn State (11-2) announced that he has entered the transfer portal. The Nittany Lions will host No. 11 SMU (11-2) at 10 a.m. Mountain time Saturday with the winner advancing to face Boise State and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31. 

Pribula served two roles for Penn State this season: the backup to starting quarterback Drew Allar and the orchestrator of the Nittany Lions’ “Pribula Package,” a wildcat formation with read option concepts. When Allar suffered an injury at Wisconsin, Pribula entered the game and completed 11 of 13 passes for 98 yards in a 28-13 victory. 

Pribula, a sophomore, finished 26 of 35 passing this season for 275 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. He also carried it 38 times for 242 yards and four touchdowns. 

Allar, a junior, announced Monday that he is returning to Penn State for his senior season.

With Pribula moving on, true freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer will serve as Penn State’s backup quarterback for the College Football Playoff. Grunkemeyer, the nation’s No. 103 overall recruit in the 247Sports class of 2024 recruiting rankings, has not attempted a pass in college.

Unlike Pribula, Nelson played only in mop-up duty for the Broncos, completing 12 of 17 passes for 128 yards with an interception. Max Cutforth, a freshman from Skyview High School in Nampa, Idaho, is expected to serve as Madsen’s backup for the College Football Playoff. 

The second-string quarterbacks for Ohio State (Devin Brown) and SMU (Preston Stone) have also entered the portal but will remain with their teams through the playoff. Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham is taking the same approach with his players. 

“I didn’t want those guys to feel like they had to wait to go in — because they wanted an opportunity to have a bigger role for a program — until after the CFP,” Dillingham said last week. “I think that would have hurt their chances (to transfer), so I made it very clear to the guys that you can stay on the team.  … Even if you go in the portal here, that doesn’t affect me at all. That’s just us being on the same page trying to help you achieve what you want to achieve in your career.”

MORE BOISE STATE NEWS & ANALYSIS

• Eighth Boise State football player enters transfer portal

• Pac-12 inching closer to media rights deal

• College Football Playoff bracket: Dates, times and locations for every CFP game

• Boise State football bowl game results from 1999 to today

• Boise State announces 2025 Mountain West opponents

• Boise State coach Spencer Danielson: Several Broncos ‘are getting illegally recruited to get in the portal’

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Continue to follow our Boise State coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.