If Tanner Morgan can't play, will Gophers go with freshman 'gunslinger' Athan Kaliakmanis at QB?

Saturday night in front of some 107,000 fans during Penn State's "White Out'' game at Beaver Stadium, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck will throw one of three quarterbacks out to the Nittany Lions.

Tanner Morgan presumably would get the nod for his 46th consecutive start if he's first cleared by medical personnel after the sixth-year senior took a shot to the head and left last week's loss at Illinois. Fleck hasn't named a starter, so it likely will be a game-time decision.

If Morgan can't go, then Fleck would choose between Cole Kramer, the fourth-year sophomore from Eden Prairie who's played in 14 career games, and Athan Kaliakmanis, a redshirt freshman who took over for Morgan last week.

Kramer would be the safer, experienced choice to face the 16th-ranked Nittany Lions. Kaliakmanis, who carries the intrigue of being a four-star recruit, would be the bolder call.

Players weren't tipping their hands this week as to which of the three might start. "I'm very excited,'' tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford said Wednesday with a sly smile.

But if it is Kaliakmanis, Gophers fans will see a player described by his high school coach as a gunslinger with the talent to extend plays with his big right arm and athletic skills.

"He's got incredible natural ability, but I think his intangibles have gone up so that he has earned a lot of respect from the team,'' Fleck said. "The team knows that he is a really good talent, but they also now see a leader in him.''

Impressing at a young age

While Fleck stressed that Morgan's availability would be determined by medical personnel, he wasn't shy when discussing Kaliakmanis' development since he and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca in 2019 began recruiting the 6-4, 210-pounder from Antioch (Ill.) Community High School.

Knowing that the Gophers haven't had a quarterback selected in the NFL draft since Craig Curry in the eighth round in 1972, Fleck and Ciarrocca saw potential in Kaliakmanis.

"I remember Coach Ciarrocca sitting in one of our recruiting meetings and saying, 'If we ever want to get a big-time guy, this has to be a [time] investment we make in this kid. Because this is the guy that can help us one day down the road, and this is our best chance to be able to get a kid,' '' Fleck said.

Ciarrocca was impressed with Kaliakmanis' advanced skill set as a sophomore — when he passed for 2,083 yards and accounted for 37 TDs — and with his demeanor.

"When I had an opportunity to meet his family when they came on campus and visited, I knew he was the right kind of kid for our program and our culture,'' Ciarrocca said, "and that he could handle being a leader and being part of the face of the program someday.''

Kaliakmanis led Antioch to a conference title as a junior but was limited because of a broken collarbone. In his senior year that was played in the spring of 2021 because of COVID-19, he guided the Sequoits to a 6-0 record and earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Illinois.

Along the way Kaliakmanis picked up scholarship offers from Michigan State, Iowa, Purdue and Tennessee among others, but Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said the Gophers were the most relentless in recruiting him.

What they have, according to Glashagel, is a quarterback with "the gunslinger mentality a bit. He's got a little bit of [Patrick] Mahomes, Brett Favre, where he thinks he can fit a ball into spots, and you're like, 'No, no, no!' and then you're like, 'Yes!.' "

"He's a weapon,'' Glashagel added, "and you guys will see sooner rather than later just what he brings as a quarterback.''

Big challenge awaits

When Morgan was injured, Kaliakmanis took over in a tough situation, completing two of six passes for 17 yards with two interceptions. Morgan struggled against Illinois, too, going 4-for-12 for a career-low 21 yards with a pick. Kramer wasn't available last week because of what Fleck called a "small injury'' but has practiced this week.

Whichever QB starts, it will come in a difficult atmosphere for the road team. Should that be Kaliakmanis, Fleck doesn't see him shrinking on such a big stage.

"He has the ability to cut the tension with his personality, with his playmaking,'' he said. "He has the ability to make others around him be at ease. Now, is he going to be way better at that in a year or two from now? Absolutely.''

The need for that poised leadership from Kaliakmanis might come much sooner for the Gophers.

"If he happens to be the guy on Saturday,'' Fleck said, "we're going to trust him 100%.''