Penn quarterback carousel stops with freshman Aidan Sayin

Penn, winless in the Ivy League, is turning to a freshman to try to solve its quarterback problem.

In the Quakers’ 42-28 loss to Yale last Saturday, Aidan Sayin took over the starting quarterback job from senior John Quinnelly, who started Penn’s (2-4, 0-3) previous five games. Sayin completed 12 of 28 passes for 114 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He threw Penn’s first touchdown pass since the second game of the season against Lafayette on Sept. 25.

Sayin became the first freshman to take a snap at quarterback for Penn since Alek Torgersen in 2013. Torgersen won two Ivy League championships, and was named first team All-Ivy twice. After graduating, he signed with the Atlanta Falcons, and later spent time with the Washington Football Team, the Detroit Lions, and the Arizona Cardinals.

“[Sayin] allows you at a very young age to really run everything within your offense,” Penn coach Ray Priore said. “He’s got the full bandwidth, and a talented arm.”

Quinnelly has completed 50% of his passes, throwing for three touchdowns and five interceptions. He completed just 6 of 25 passes for 83 yards in his last start, a 23-14 loss to Columbia on Oct. 16.

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“In the Lafayette game [a 24-14 loss on Sept. 25], [Quinnelly] sort of peaked [passing for 244 yards, but with three interceptions]. He did get hurt in his right knee,” Priore said. “He wasn’t running the ball the way he wanted, didn’t have confidence in that leg. And in hindsight, maybe I stuck with it for too long.”

Sayin is the fourth quarterback to play for Penn this season, along with Quinnelly and sophomores Hugh Brady and Maurcus McDaniel. None had played a college game at quarterback before this year.

“[Sayin] was cool as a cucumber. I was more nervous than he was,” Priore said. “He came in and threw the ball well, had two touchdown passes. But the difference between going against scout team and going against people that are live — he hung out probably two or three passes that couldn’t really be played.”

In his abbreviated senior season at Carlsbad (Calif.) High School, Sayin passed for 962 yards and 13 touchdowns in just five games.

“The transition [to collegiate football] hasn’t been too hard. My teammates help me a lot,” Sayin said. “Especially [center] Trevor Radosevich — he has helped me with all the protection, so it hasn’t been too much of a struggle to transition.”

Priore platooned Sayin and McDaniel at quarterback, with McDaniel seeing action in his third straight game. McDaniel has rushed for 62 rushing yards on 15 attempts with one touchdown as primarily a running quarterback.

“I think it’s a positive that we can change the pace up, switch it up, and let Maurcus get in there,” Sayin said. “Let them get busy in the running game, and then we can switch it up and throw the ball. So I think it’s a good change of pace, and helps us move the ball. "

The Quakers take on Brown (2-4, 1-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday and try to avoid last place in the league. The Bears are coming off a 49-45 win over Cornell.

Brown features senior quarterback EJ Perry, a 2019 first team All-Ivy honoree who holds the conference record for total offense in a single season with 3,678 yards. However, Perry threw three interceptions last week against the Big Red and has nine on the season.

“We need to execute like we have been struggling to,” Sayin said. “We need to execute, take those shot plays, and score some points this week.”