Why won’t Penn State start Drew Allar at quarterback? That and more in this week’s mailbag
Our latest mailbag of the season is here and we have the answers to your questions. As a reminder, if you have any questions send them to psu_mailbag@centredaily.com for inclusion in the mailbag in the future. From big picture to small minutiae, we’ll answer your queries about the Penn State football program.
Now that basketball and wrestling season are upon us, feel free to send your questions about those programs to us, too.
Why won’t James Franklin make the switch to Drew Allar now? —Josh
I think Franklin believes, at this point, that Sean Clifford gives the Nittany Lions the best chance to win. And I’ve made my point already that I don’t think that’s the case. That being said, everyone outside of the football building is operating at an information deficit there, as Franklin said after the Indiana game.
Still, I find it hard to believe that any aspect of the evaluation can be more valuable than what each player has done in games this season and that advantage falls squarely with Allar right now. He has made mistakes in games, but at a rate that is lower than the ones Clifford makes. Yes, the sample size is smaller, but that’s what we’ve got to work with right now.
I wrote a column prior to the Indiana game making the case for Allar, and all of that still holds up. In fact, it looks even better now that Allar threw an absolute dart for a touchdown against the Hoosiers and looked calm, cool and collected in the game.
To get back to the original point, Franklin just believes Clifford is better. There isn’t a whole lot more to it than that. I have to believe if he felt otherwise, Allar would be starting.
Can Penn State men’s basketball win games in the Big Ten if they don’t have a true center? —Noah
Our first basketball question of the season. Yes, I think Penn State can compete and honestly, I think it may be an advantage that the program plays more skilled players at center.
The Big Ten plays basketball at a snail’s pace compared to the rest of the conference and relies on physicality more than others. That usually means having a big, strong center who doesn’t move all that well. Penn State doesn’t have a guy like that on the roster and it should push the Nittany Lions to play a more up-tempo, modern style of basketball.
They can focus on spreading the floor and giving their guards the most space they can to allow them to work. That means Jalen Pickett can get into the lane and either finish around the room or kick passes out to his open teammates beyond the arc. Those drive and kick situations force defenses into rotations, with defenders having to cover for each other as the ball moves around the perimeter. Most of the time someone ends up missing a rotation and the offense gets an open three. And this team can shoot, so those open looks will be extra valuable.
That’s the long way of saying Penn State will have a shooting and mobility advantage against Big Ten teams that use traditional centers.
Who is the team MVP if the season ended today? —Wes
This is an interesting one. A lot of the credit for Penn State’s nine wins can be spread around to different places. I thought about copping out and taking defensive coordinator Manny Diaz because of what he’s brought to the defense. But I won’t do that.
There are some good options. Olu Fashanu has proven he’s a cornerstone left tackle. Joey Porter Jr. continues to lead one of the best cornerback rooms in the country. Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen have been dynamic in the running game. Curtis Jacobs has been all over the field.
But I’ll go with safety Ji’Ayir Brown. Brown is leading the team in interceptions with three, in total tackles with 52 and has added two sacks for good measure. His ability to play deep, come down in run support and blitz makes him the most versatile player the defense has and opens things up for Diaz to move him around and play in different ways.
There are plenty of great players on this Penn State team, but none have allowed their unit to play in as many ways as Brown does. If we’re assigning value to the team’s success so far this year, it mostly goes to the defense and he’s been the most important player on it.
Send in your questions
That’s it for this week’s mailbag. Don’t forget to email us at psu_mailbag@centredaily.com to get your questions answered. We’ll have you covered this Saturday for Penn State’s game against Maryland, so be sure to head to CentreDaily.com for all of the coverage you need.
