Penn State had a surprisingly good season in 2012, and one reason was QB Matt McGloin, who thrived in the offense of new coach Bill O'Brien.
McGloin hadn't shown all that much in his first three seasons, but he threw for 3,271 yards and 24 TDs last season as the Nittany Lions finished 8-4.
But McGloin is gone, and there is no quarterback on the roster who has taken a college snap. Junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson, who enrolled in January and went through spring practice, and highly touted true freshman Christian Hackenberg will vie for the job in fall camp.
O'Brien is trying to take a positive approach.
"You know, one thing that's really exciting about working with young quarterbacks is that you get a chance to really mold that quarterback. You get a chance to really teach that quarterback," he said Wednesday at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago. "And [quarterback coach] Charlie Fisher and I are going to do that and work hard at teaching our quarterbacks how to play in our offense and managing a game and play smart, tough Penn State football."
Ferguson (6-feet-3, 213 pounds) is a native of Bakersfield, Calif., who played one season of junior college football at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif.; he has three seasons of eligibility remaining. He was not that highly recruited, choosing Penn State over Houston, Akron and Florida Atlantic.
Hackenberg (6-3, 212), on the other hand, was the consensus No. 2 pro-style quarterback nationally in the 2013 recruiting class. He played three seasons at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy.
Asked when he would like to name his starter, O'Brien said, "I think you have to make a decision about halfway through training camp."
O'Brien said that timetable gives coaches enough evaluation time to make a decision.
