Deep Dive: Penn State QB commit Bekkem Kritza
The recruiting calendar has slowed down ahead of official visit season, so let’s circle back around to Penn State’s 2025 efforts and bring back the Deep Dive.
We’ll start at the game’s most important position. Penn State added a commitment from Colorado native Bekkem Kritza back in November and he’s remained a solid part of the class ever since. What does the three-star prospect bring to the table? Let’s take a closer look.
The Kritza File
Bekkem Kritza
Quarterback
Boulder, Colo.
Miami Central High School (Miami, Fla.)
On3 Industry: Three-star, 87.53 rating; No. 587 overall; No. 34 quarterback; No. 1 in Colorado.
On3: Three-star, 87 rating; No. 52 quarterback; No. 1 in Colorado.
Recruiting Background
It’s been quite a journey for Kritza, who started as a freshman at Boulder (Colo.) Fairview and was a standout from the start. He threw for over 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns and earned Colorado Prep Reports 5A North Offensive Player of the Year. Unsurprisingly, the Buffaloes were the first to offer back in the fall of 2021. Offers steadily trickled in, with his first big-time offer coming from a camp performance at Texas A&M in 2022. He didn’t come onto Penn State’s radar until the spring of 2023, when the Nittany Lions hosted a group that included wide receiver Phillip Bell, Aydin Breland and future Nittany Lions’ signee T.A. Cunningham.
The twists started his sophomore year, when Kritza moved out to California to play at Santa Margarita Catholic. That change didn’t work out as planned, as he appeared in just five games. That offseason he moved to Miami Central, but landed back at Fairview by the middle of the season. In six games at Fairview, he threw for 1,747 yards and tossed 20 touchdowns to just three interceptions in six games as a junior. This offseason, he moved back to Miami Central.
Everybody got that?
In the meantime, Kritza committed to Penn State in November of 2023. He did so on the weekend that the Nittany Lions not only fell to Michigan, but also fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. He camped for Penn State last year and struck up a relationship with quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien.
Quotable
“I had a feeling, ever since I went up there the first time, that the vibe was different. I took a few other visits and stuff, checked out other schools, and realized that I wasn’t going to find it anywhere else like they do. The honesty and loyalty part, I’m not going to find that anywhere as much as I did at Penn State. Once I realized that, I started to connect more and more with coach [James] Franklin. We were on the phone probably every other day. All the coaches text me every day. It wasn’t just checking to see how I was doing on the field, but also off of it. How my life was going and things like that. Them doing that, it was a big difference maker for me.”
– Bekkem Kritza on why he picked Penn State
Scouting Penn State commit Bekkem Kritza
“I think he’s a guy who has a strong arm. There’s certainly some physical tools there. He can make some really impressive high-end plays. I think the biggest thing for Bekkem Kritza is just getting more consistent on a play-to-play basis, continuing to work on his accuracy and really just gaining experience. He’s a guy who has played less than some of his peers given that he didn’t play a ton as a sophomore.
“But I think he’s a pretty good athlete and he can move pretty well in and around the pocket. He’s probably better at throwing with his feet set than on the run at this point. The highs are certainly notable, but he’ll need to continue improving his overall consistency and accuracy. But there’s certainly some physical skills to work with and he’s a guy who will be interesting to watch over the next year or so. But more than anything, it was nice to just see him get back on the field as a junior. He certainly has some promising flashes, but overall, it’s also still relatively early in his overall development as a quarterback.”
– On3’s Charles Power on Kritza
Fitz’s Take
This is one of the more fascinating commitments of the last decade, I would say. So where do we start? Three schools, two of them twice, isn’t something to overlook here. It’s always been in pursuit of something, so there’s credit due there, but the lack of stability has to have an impact on development. For me, it’s the move to California that is the head-scratcher. He’s not the only prospect to head to Santa Margarita with the to find out that it wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. Then it was off to Miami Central, which like Santa Margarita, has started filling up with talent from outside its area. From a development standpoint, that’s a lot of variance.
He’s played his best ball at home in Colorado. Granted, the competition level is nowhere near the other places, but there’s something to be said for comfort level. What sources at Penn State keep going back to is the arm. It’s clearly live. The Nittany Lions believe it to be among the best arms in the 2025 cycle. That was the point hammered home when they took him back in November. He threw for the staff at the Mini Camp this summer and did very well.
The flip side of the arm argument is that Kritza is as raw as it gets from a quarterback perspective. The ceiling is high, but it’s a long ways off, and the floor is not going to get on the field early at a place like Penn State. This is a pure development job and these days in college football, is that something that works out? I don’t know. The mechanics need work, which is something they’ve already started trying to coach up from afar.
Kritza’s commitment in November essentially came out of nowhere. He came into the weekend ready to jump, and that was before the decision was made to move on from Yurcich. However, outside viewpoints could see it as a measure of damage control. Penn State set out to take two quarterbacks in the cycle, so taking one in the window without a coordinator in place would seemingly give the team flexibility that could help with the second guy. As we’ve seen since with Matt Zollers, it didn’t play out that way.
So now Kritza is Penn State’s guy. For the time being, it seems like he’s the guy. The Nittany Lions aren’t pushing for another at this point outside of trying to hang around with Zollers. If they go after Malik Washington, it probably won’t be until later in the cycle. Danny O’Brien is on the road right now, and while he’ll see some 2025s throw, his focus is mainly on 2026s as this point.
Don’t get us wrong, Penn State really likes what it has in Kritza. He’s also become one of the leaders of the 2025 class and he’s been an active recruiter for the Nittany Lions. Still, this is the trust the staff commitment in the class for Penn State.
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