Last July, everybody was talking about Penn State QB Drew Allar.
At that point, Allar had a year of college football experience. But he had yet to start a game.
Coach James Franklin never made an official announcement. But everybody knew the former five-star from Medina, Ohio would be Penn State’s starter in 2023, and he was a big topic of discussion at Big Ten Media Days.
A year later, Allar has 13 starts and a lot has changed.
Allar knows what it’s like to excel and lead his team to victory in front of a huge crowd on national television. He did that in his first start against West Virginia at Beaver Stadium.
He also knows what it’s like to fail on a big stage.
That happened at Ohio State and at home against Michigan.
But one thing hasn’t changed from last offseason: for Penn State to reach its potential, Allar must deliver.
“I think he’s the key,” CBS Sports’ Rick Neuheisel told NSN Wednesday in Indianapolis.“He comes with a lot of fanfare. The belief is that he’s going to be the next guy.”
‘HE DIDN’T PLAY THE WAY HE WAS PROJECTED’
Allar came to Penn State as one of the highest-rated QB signees in school history. Therefore, a lot of people were excited.
He spent his freshman season backing up sixth-year senior Sean Clifford.
Penn State won with Clifford– going 11-2, winning the Rose Bowl and finishing seventh in the country. But Clifford didn’t perform well in the team’s two losses.
Against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Clifford completed just seven of 19 passes and Penn State lost 41-17.
Against Ohio State, Clifford put up good numbers on the surface– 32-47, 371 yards, 3 TDs– but turned the ball over four times, with all four leading to Buckeye points that proved huge in a 44-31 Penn State loss.
With Clifford gone after the 2022 season, Allar had the keys to a team many felt could win a national title.
Allar played well more often than not, ending the season with an outstanding ratio of 25 touchdowns to two interceptions.
Once again, Penn State finished the regular season 10-2.
But once again, those two losses were to Michigan and Ohio State, with poor QB play being an issue for PSU.
In those two games, Allar combined to go 28-for-62 with two touchdowns, both late in the fourth quarter when the outcome was all but sealed.
For many, those two games defined Allar’s season, and for CBS color commentator Gary Danielson, Allar wasn’t what Penn State fans hoped for.
“He didn’t play the way he was projected,” Danielson told NSN. “When Sean Clifford played the year before, people could not wait for Drew Allar to play. Well, now Sean Clifford’s in the NFL being a pretty good player, and Drew didn’t take that step everybody thought.”
Last year, Penn State was a team that many felt could make the College Football Playoff.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.This year, many feel there’s no excuse for it not to.
With the field tripling from four teams to 12, the common thought is that Penn State has to be one of the 12 for this season to have any chance at being remembered as a success.
Allar building on what he learned in Year 1 as starter would go a long way toward Penn State reaching its goals.
“He has to play better in big games,” Danielson said. “He does not have great receivers, and he’s a passing quarterback. He has good receivers. He has receivers that a lot of teams in the country would want. But when you’re measuring them against the elite– Oregons and Ohio States, he does not have those types of receivers.”
PENN STATE: ‘THROW THE DAMN BALL DOWN THE FIELD’
Danielson was there for one of Allar and Penn State’s final hours of 2023.
CBS had the broadcast for Penn State’s famous White Out game with Iowa being the opponent and eventual victim.
Penn State won 31-0 and Allar threw four touchdown passes.
What’s a little odd, though, is that Allar only threw just 166 yards despite completing 25 passes.
Some of this was due to Penn State’s defense setting the offense up with good field position– two of Penn State’s scoring drives went a combined 58 yards– but CBS’ play-by-play man, Brad Nessler noticed something else when he watched Penn State that night and at several other points throughout the season.
“I’m sitting there,” Nessler told NSN, “and I’m going, we met with Drew and he was this big strapping guy (6-foot-5, 238 pounds) and he’s got this gun for an arm, they’re throwing these swing passes about five yards out in the flats. I’m saying ‘Throw the damn ball down the field,’ you know?”
“Yards per attempt,” Neuheisel said, “in my mind, are down, and I don’t know if that’s because they didn’t have great threats outside that maybe they were used to having.”
For Nessler, Allar put up good numbers last season, but is “capable of more,” under new OC Andy Kotelnicki
“If Drew starts throwing the ball down the field, or the offense evolves and lets him do what I think his arm is capable of doing, I think they can be sensational on offense.”
‘WILL IT FIT WHAT HE DOES?’
Kotelnicki had plenty of success in his three seasons at Kansas, taking one of the worst offenses in the country and making it one of the best.
But those offenses were run by mobile quarterbacks, which Allar is not known for.
Danielson wonders what this means for Allar.
“Now, new offensive coordinator, will it fit what he does?” Danielson said. “You know, that Kansas offense relies on a little bit more of an athletic quarterback. (Beau) Pribula,behind him, is more that style. I mean, you have the starting job until you don’t have the starting job. That’s the way it goes at that position.
Danielson knows, whatever the offense looks like, a lot depends on Drew Allar.
“For Penn State tobe what Penn State wants to be, I think he has to take another step forward,” he said.
