I think this is one of the problems with Penn State football under James Franklin, and I've mentioned it in other threads.
There's a meme going around that says Ryan Day saw 1 season of Kyle McCord and said, "We can do better."
But Franklin saw 1 season of Drew and said, "Run it back and go again." Then he saw a second season of Drew and said, "Run it back and go again."
So, I agree it does seem like there's not really a competition for certain starting positions. Instead, Franklin was just playing favorites and for all his claims about being a metrics guy, he sure as hell wasn't paying close attention to the data because the data clearly said, "Stop giving Nick Singleton carries."