Drew Allar had a controversial four seasons at Penn State, leading the team to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance but also falling short when the lights were brightest.
A five-star recruit and ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the 2022 recruiting class by 247Sports, Allar was placed under the spotlight from the moment he arrived on campus. He sat behind sixth-year Sean Clifford as a freshman, and fans were eager to see him take the reins.
Allar’s first year starting in 2023 was highlighted by an impressive 25-2 touchdown-interception ratio, though the biggest criticism was a lack of downfield aggression and poor performances against Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss — the team’s three losses — where he completed fewer than half his passes.
The following campaign was Allar’s best, as he guided the team to a pair of playoff wins and an appearance in the national semifinal. The Nittany Lions won a program-best 13 games and made a Big Ten title game appearance for the first time in nearly a decade, but the big-game issues continued to plague him.
Despite a strong statistical season, completing 262 of 394 passes (66.5%) for 3,327 yards (third-best in program history) with 24 touchdowns to eight interceptions, Allar’s performances in losses to Ohio State, Oregon and Notre Dame ranged from mediocre to bad.
After returning for his senior campaign, Allar completed 103 of 159 passes (64.8%) for 1,100 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions, though the team started 3-3 with no wins over power conference opponents. Late in the fourth quarter against Northwestern, Allar was sacked and sustained a broken left ankle, ending his college career abruptly amid a three-game skid.
“Obviously, it wasn’t an ideal ending to the season, me being out, but I took that as an opportunity to kind of grow and learn from that and make myself a better player, both athletically and mechanically and that sort of thing,” Allar said at Penn State Pro Day. “So I just took it as an opportunity to better myself. I think I showed teams that I’m a competitor. Like, I love just going out and competing and just throwing like this. This is a job, but it’s also my passion, so I love doing it.”
Though his final season was cut short, Allar is still viewed as one of the top quarterback prospects in the upcoming draft, partially due to his raw size and arm strength, but also for the flashes of brilliance sprinkled throughout his time in Happy Valley.
Allar proved he could make every throw on the field, though not always consistently, and developed into a capable runner during his final two years. He remains a tantalizing prospect due to his Josh Allen-like build and high upside.
What remains undetermined is how much of the blame for Allar’s shortcomings should be put on the shoulders of his offensive coordinators or wide receiver group, which notoriously underperformed across the last three seasons.
Still, Allar said he’s talked to “pretty much every NFL team” during the pre-draft process, though there’s a wide range of projected landing spots.
“As far as things that they like about me, it’s more of like just arm talent and that sort of thing,” Allar said. “And them understanding how I process, how I learn information, me walking them through our film from last year.”
Pro Day results
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 232 pounds
Projection: Round 3
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