There aren’t many quarterbacks better than Penn State QB Drew Allar and that’s why he’s a semifinalist for one of the most prestigious awards a quarterback can win.
Allar is one of 16 still in the running for the Davey O’Brien Award, presented annually to the best quarterback in the country.
The O’Brien Award is named for, as one might imagine, Davey O’Brien. O’Brien was one of college football’s first Heisman Trophy winners, becoming the fourth recipient of the award in 1938. He then moved onto the NFL. He led the league in passing with the Eagles in 1939. After 1940, O’Brien left football to take a government job (things were kinda different 84 years ago).
ALLAR’S SEASON
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: Drew Allar
Allar is unlikely to follow in O’Brien’s Heisman-winning footsteps. But he’s been pretty darn good. Through seven and a half games— he missed the second half of Penn State’s 28-13 win over Wisconsin with a knee injury— Allar’s thrown for more than 2,000 yards, with 23 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s completed 70.3% of his passes and his QBR of 80.6 ranks 11th in the country. It should be noted that three of Allar’s five interceptions came one afternoon at USC, and one of those was on a Hail Mary that doesn’t really count. Allar also threw for a career-high 391 yards that day and led the team to a come-from-behind overtime win.
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Drew Allar celebrates his first quarter score against Bowling Green.
The 15 other Davey O’Brien Award semifinalists are: Bryson Daily (Army), Jaxon Dart (Ole Miss), Quinn Ewers (Texas), Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), Blake Horvath (Navy), Will Howard (Ohio State), Kevin Jennings (SMU), Cade Klubnik (Clemson), John Mateer (Washington State), Jalen Milroe (Alabama), Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt), Jake Retzlaff (BYU), Kurtis Rourke (Indiana), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) and Cam Ward (Miami).
Penn State has had two Davey O’Brien Winners before: Todd Blackledge in 1982 and Kerry Collins in 1994.
