For separate reasons, Saturday offers a fresh start for Penn coach Rick Santos and freshman QB Miles Teodecki

Three days after a loss to No. 7 Lehigh in Penn’s home opener, freshman quarterback Miles Teodecki celebrated his 18th birthday.

Teodecki’s performance was one he would rather forget, throwing two interceptions and being sacked four times.

Quakers head coach Rick Santos put it in perspective.

“The game moved fast for him,” Santos said, “And the quickest way for you to get sped up is to get hit in the mouth and get sacked a couple times, and the ball’s going to come out of your hand a lot quicker than the next time, I promise you that.”

Though he sees room for improvement, Santos also knows that Teodecki only has two games under his belt — and just turned 18.

“He’s young, but he’s extremely emotionally mature for his age,” Santos said. “And I think, in a game where the elements were such, it was gust[s] of 40 or 50 [mph], it was raining half the game, we were forced to throw the ball almost the entire second half. So there was way too much pressure that was put on a freshman quarterback’s shoulders.”

Santos, who has “all the guys’ birthdays in [his] calendar,” made the team sing happy birthday to Teodecki, who gave a “pump-up speech” before practice.

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His speech “wasn’t a movie ‘rah rah’ speech,” according to Santos, but straightforward: “Let’s be extremely competitive today and let’s go at it.”

For Teodecki, it wasn’t about turning 18. It was about football.

Finding players who are committed to the game and to staying for all four years is what drew Santos to coaching in the Ivy League, and at Penn. The former University of New Hampshire head coach wanted the “ability to retain a lot of our rosters and really build a sustained culture here.”

Now, Santos will return to the Granite State as Penn (1-1) opens conference play against Dartmouth (0-2) on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN+).

“I’m not going to lie, there’s a lot of nostalgia heading back up,” he said. “A lot of emotions.”

Unable to tell his New Hampshire team in person his decision to leave for Penn, Santos had a Zoom meeting planned, but the decision broke the night before.

“That did not sit well with me, kind of how I left there,” he said. “So all those things are kind of playing over my head, but really it’s just the joy and the gratitude for my time at UNH.”

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Another draw to Penn for Santos was the refreshing approach that the student in student-athlete comes first.

“I just love the fact that they’re so well-rounded,” he said of Penn’s players, noting the smaller senior class this year. Santos says he looks for guys who will stay all four years, who are “a football player first who happens to be smart enough to get into a place like UPenn and not the other way around.”

Slowing down the game for Teodecki seems to be a focus for Santos and his staff. They decreased the number of first- and second-down plays, choosing instead to increase the number of times they elect to run the football on a single play so that “he can get every single defensive look that he might see.”

That patience and ability to see the game will be critical against Dartmouth.

“If you force the ball into coverage against this team, they’re going to beat you every single time,” Santos said. “So it’s a great opportunity for Miles and our offense to be patient, to be really efficient.”

Sammy McCorkle, Dartmouth’s head coach, is “defensive-minded, special-teams minded as well,” Santos said, adding: “They win on those two fronts.”

Noting Dartmouth running back Myles Craddock as a player to watch, Santos said that “he’s got long speed, he’s tough, he’s physical.

“They make you work the ball down the field … they do not want the ball to get behind their corners and their safeties.”

Santos hopes to build an offensive line that will improve the run game and a special teams unit that will place the offense and defense in prime positions on the field. So far, the defense has been the Quakers’ strength.

Now, he is looking to help the offense find its flow.

“The identity needs to fall on the shoulders of our offensive line and our running backs, and be efficient in terms of our running game,” he said.

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