At coach James Franklinโs annual winter availability, the Penn State boss was asked another how his QB handled a bitter end to a great season.
Drew Allar is the backbone of Penn State footballโs dream destiny of winning a national championship in 2025.
Abdul Carter is off to the NFL Draft. Tyler Warren will be the first tight end taken. Kobe King and others are gone.ย
This is Allarโs team and itโs time for him to take the reigns.ย
Franklin realizes how hard Allar took the Notre Dame loss, especially his game-sealing interception that led to Notre Dameโs game-winning field goal in the Orange Bowl to move on to Atlanta and the national title gameย
Notre Dame picks off Drew Allar late in the fourth ๐ณ pic.twitter.com/F0SZvM5fFa
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025
โI mean, you know when the season ends the way it does, you know, everybody’s disappointed, and there’s typically nobody more disappointed than the players themselves and the coaches because of how much time and effort you put into it,โ Franklin told the media leading up to winter workouts.
โThe most important thing for all of us is that we learn from it and grow from it, and that’s what we’re all doing.โ
Penn State lost 27-24. Allar finished 12-23 for 135 yards and one pick. Two other interceptions were wiped out by penalties, including a controversial pass interference on Warren near the end zone that led to Penn State taking ย a 24-17 lead with 7:55 left.
But Allar is doing what he has to do to be better for it
โThe way he handled it, I thought, was super professional,โ backup QB Ethan Grunkemeyer said. โA young guy like me looking at that was cool to see how he dealt with it after the game.โ
Allar announced his decision to return to Penn State in December, a decision which remains one of the best things that could have happened for PSU.
Turning the page to 2025, Allar is an early candidate to win the Heisman Trophy and enters his third year as a starter.ย ย
โI think this experience this year will be helpful, very similar to what you’ve seen with other programs. We understand what it’s like,โ Franklin said. โYou have a plan, you have a routine, you kind of go back and do an after-action review about how things went as a program. The players do that as well and then you attack it.โ
Not everyone can be a freshman or sophomore and carry the weight of a program on their shoulders at a young age. The last two national champions in the Bjg Ten are a prime example. JJ McCarthy won a championship in his third year as a starter. Will Howard won in his final season of eligibility.ย
Flackback to the last four years and Stetson Bennettโs years of experience, leadership, being coachable, making good decisions with his progressions, and trusting his playmakers to back-to-back championships.
Leading a veteran roster with four returning starters to the offensive line, both 1,000-yard running backs and two transfer wide receivers, Allar will have every opportunity to steer the ship, make improvements, learn from his mistakes, and take Penn State to the heights of its fellow Big Ten conference opponents.
โBut the most important thing is that we use every experience we have, both positive and negative, to get better and grow,โ Franklin said. โThat’s what I see all of our guys doing, including Drew.โย
