STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach James Franklin hopes college football players soon won’t have to make the same decision as backup quarterback Beau Pribula.

The sophomore, who played a key role in No. 5 Penn State’s first run to the College Football Playoff, won’t be a part of the team’s quest for a national championship that begins against SMU at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. He has decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

“We’ve got problems in college football,” Franklin said Monday. “He did not want to leave our program until the end of the season, but the way the portal is, and the timing of it, when you play the position of quarterback and there’s only one spot and those spots are filling up, he felt like he was put in a no-win situation. And I agree with him.”

By rule, players looking to transfer must enter the portal by Dec. 28. They cannot do so again until April 16, 2025. That timeframe — approved in October in a move that reduced the window by 15 days after earlier complaints from coaches — is not ideal, Franklin said. Last week, Marshall pulled out of a bowl game after too many of its players hit the portal.

Pribula wants to spend his last two years of eligibility as a starter and knows he’d likely have to wait at least another year in Happy Valley with starter and Medina native Drew Allar returning for his senior year next season.