In his junior season, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar led his Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff Semifinal. Allar emerged as a potential NFL Draft prospect and one of the best quarterbacks in the country before a back-breaking interception in the Orange Bowl loss to Notre Dame brought it all to a screeching halt.
Now, Allar is back in Happy Valley preparing for his senior season, and the former five-star prospect is looking to fully deliver on the immense promise he displayed in the 2022 recruiting class. According to his head coach, for that to happen, “he needs to take another step this year, which we think he’s done every year he’s been here,” James Franklin said.
Then, Franklin laid out the four specific areas that he’d like his quarterback to improve in:
“He needs to take another step when it comes to his mobility. He needs to take another step when it comes to his leadership. He needs to take another step in terms of his completion percentage. Needs to take another step in terms of his touchdown-interception ratio.” Adding, “It's really all of it.”
Mobility
Allar already took a massive step forward in this department last season, rushing for career-highs with 302 yards and six touchdowns. He upped his total number of scrambles from 24 in 2023 to 43 in 2024, and despite his time to throw rising from 2.75 to 2.89, his pressure-to-sack rate only saw a slight increase from 10.2% to 14.7%.
Allar will never be a dual-threat QB but with his 6-foot-5 240-pound frame, he’s become excellent at avoiding sacks and extending plays outside of the pocket. Last season, backup QB Beau Pribula and tight end Tyler Warren provided a QB-run element for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s system, but with Warren heading to the NFL and Pribula now the likely starter at Missouri, Allar may need to make a few more plays with his legs as a senior.
Leadership
When former Penn State wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith transferred to Auburn last offseason, he made sure to get in a few jabs at Allar for what he believed to be a lack of leadership. However, that didn’t appear to be an issue as he led the Nittany Lions to 13 wins and to the CFP semis.
Allar displayed impressive poise in his junior season, most notably during the Nittany Lion’s overtime victory at USC when led a late fourth-quarter touchdown drive with two fourth-down conversions.
Completion percentage
From Andy Kotelnicki’s first game as Penn State’s offensive coordinator against West Virginia last season, it was immediately obvious that he was doing everything possible to make Allar’s life easier. Previous offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich had a complex passing game that forced quarterback and receiver to constantly be on the same page for a series of timing-based option routes. It was a lot for the sophomore to handle in 2023, and it showed as he completed fewer than 60% of his throws.
Then, under Kotelnicki, Allar’s completion percentage jumped to 66.5% which was buoyed by an increase in play-action usage. Kotelnicki gave his quarterback layups to help him get into a rhythm, and another year in the offense should lead to even more cohesion between play-caller and QB.
TD/INT ratio
This is one of the few areas where Allar actually regressed in 2024, but there’s a reason for that. Last season, Allar threw 24 touchdowns, one fewer than 2023, and eight interceptions, six more than his junior year. However, he was a markedly better quarterback because he upped his risk level as a throwing, which led to a jump from 6.8 yards per attempt to 8.4.
Sure, Allar could cut out a few of the interceptions, especially in big-time moments against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game or the clincher against Notre Dame, but he can’t sacrifice his aggressiveness to that end.