Drew Allar: Can Penn State Football QB Unlock Nittany Lions' National Championship Potential?

Penn State Football has its future quarterback in Drew Allar.

But before we dive into the film, lets discuss where Allar came from:

In high school, According to 247 sports, he was a five-star rated prospect sitting as the top among quarterbacks and number three overall.

Allar was ranked as the sixth quarterback in his class by rivals.com and the 70^th overall prospect. He helped his high school team go 13-1 his senior season and completed 305-of-511 passes (60 percent) for 4,444 yards and 48 passing touchdowns his final season, he also rushed for 406 yards and nine touchdowns.

Allar is a tall, big-bodied quarterback who stands at 6-foot-4 weighing 242 pounds. His frame may have come from his father, Kevin Allar, who played tight-end for Eastern Michigan from 1992-1997.

As a true freshman in Happy Valley, Drew Allar appeared in 10 games and completed 35 of 60 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns.

According to PFF, Allar averaged 5.7 YPA. And ended with a 96.8 quarterback rating. In the Blue and White game, he gave us a chance to see where he improved as a player. So, let’s dive into the film to learn a little more about Penn State’s sophomore quarterback.

Breaking Down Penn State Football QB Drew Allar

Keeping the Play alive

When diving into Allar’s playstyle, he’s a quarterback who would rather sit in the pocket and use his arm to move the offense down field, but will not hesitate to take off and run if a lane is there.

Nowadays, it’s a necessity for your quarterback to be mobile and Allar isn’t afraid to run with the ball in his hands and also put his body through defenders down-field.

On 72 drop backs, Allar only had 10 scrambles for 63 yards and one touchdown.

But, where it gets fun is when I looked into his ability to break tackles after contact. Allar has 76 yards after contact and averages 4.22 YAC. Which is pretty damn good. He averages the 12^th highest among quarterbacks last year, sitting right behind Tennessee’s Herndon Hooker, who averages 4.37 yards after contact.

Allar knows how to work the pocket to keep the play alive, but he can also tuck it and make the most out of the play.

In the clip below, this play should have ended with an eight-yard loss, but Allar was able to make it back to the line of scrimmage.

pic.twitter.com/HXuP0vsHHi

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 10, 2023

In order to keep the play alive, Allar has also showed a really impressive side-arm throw. We saw this year but then he also had two completed side arm passes in the Blue-White game as well. This first one was one of his best passes on the day.

Allar shows off his sidearm throws in the Blue-White game pic.twitter.com/WgXi7oSUlY

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 9, 2023

According to PFF, when Allar was under pressure, he was able to come away with a 114.2 passer rating.

Per SIS, when Allar throws the ball when his feet are shuffling/moving his quarterback rating is 121.0, and when they are planted 79.7. So, even when evading the pressure, he is able to deliver accurate passes down field.

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Touch

Now, when we look at his arm when moving the ball down field, Allar’s touch is what stands out the most.

Last year in the Michigan game, Allar tosses a beauty to running back Nicholas Singleton but unfortunately, he was unable to bring it in.

Touch pic.twitter.com/lKfwk9g1J6

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 9, 2023

In the second clip, in last year’s matchup against Central Michigan, Allar finds receiver Omari Evans in the endzone for a 40-yard touchdown pass.

Once Allar notices the safety rushing to the line of scrimmage post-snap, he knew that he had Evans in single coverage over the top.

Allar puts just enough touch on the pass allowing his receivers to get under it with ease. Having great touch like this as a true freshman, is a great sign for the future.

Even most recently in the Blue-White game, Allar showed his touch up the sideline, even though it wasn’t a perfect snap, he was able to recover and drop in the pass right over the defender, and still gave his receiver a chance to make the catch.

pic.twitter.com/96xdoe4bsf

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 10, 2023

Placement

When Allar uses that touch when targeting the middle of the field, that is when he is best.

Last year, according to Sports Info Solutions, on 15 attempts to the middle of the field, Allar had a 12.52 EPA. He went 11-for-15 for 158 yards with a 73.3% completion percentage averaging 10.5 yards per attempt.

pic.twitter.com/pKyvovk6Aa

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 10, 2023

One of his best placements over the middle was last year’s game against Indiana. Allar came into the game in the fourth quarter and went 9-for-12 for 75 yards and tow touchdowns. Here is one of them.

Ew.. this placement… Penn State’s QB Drew Allar pic.twitter.com/Mc8TR4qjGP

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 9, 2023

Allar does a great job anticipating where his receivers will be when it comes to crossing routes. Which will be the bread and butter in the Penn State offense.

Progression

Now getting into the most important attribute of being a successful quarterback, progressions. Which is the ability to go through reads, remain poise and find your open receiver downfield.

Allar demonstrated this last year against Michigan, so let’s jump into the clip.

Initially, Allar’s first read is the left side of the field, but once he notices the cornerback possibly making a break towards the ball to jump the route, Allar moves onto the right side of the field.

pic.twitter.com/8Z7gDG0Vtc

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 10, 2023

Once he realizes that throwing it to the tight-end running the corner route would be risky, he throws it to the wide-open receiver coming across the middle, which ended up being his third read.

We can make the argument that Allar was able to show the ability to get through his progressions because it was the fourth quarter in blowout games, but he also came out in the Blue-White game with the same poise and calmness when in the pocket.

pic.twitter.com/iBzYQmEZqU

— Laurie Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) May 9, 2023

Afterwards, Allar was asked, what about the Penn State defense that challenges him the most.

“I would say like from a mental standpoint because they’ll present a bunch of different things throughout practice,” Allar said. “And it’s really challenging just because of the players they have on every level of the defense.”

Even with the complexity of the Penn State Football defense, Allar is able to keep the play alive from the pocket and go through his reads to eventually find the most effective result. Even though the offense in the spring game started off slow with a three and out, and not to mention Parker Washington‘s absence showed; but by the end of the game, Allar was moving the ball more efficiently and with more confidence.

Penn State fans should be excited for the future.

Drew Allar appears to have the most important quarterback tools to elevate this offense to the next level. Allar will only improve as the years progress along with his chemistry with his receivers. “Our quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs, we cannot throw enough all summer… They just can’t throw enough to build that consistency and chemistry.”