What to expect from Drew Allar as a starting quarterback for Penn State football

Penn State has a lot of momentum coming off a Rose Bowl victory to close out last season. The Nittany Lions are likely going to be a preseason top-10 team in the AP poll and are in prime position to make a run to the playoff in its last year featuring only four teams. The probability of that will likely hinge on the most important spot on the field.

Let’s take a look at where the team stands at quarterback heading into the 2023 season.

Projected starter: Sophomore Drew Allar

The moment a large chunk of the Penn State fan base has been waiting for has arrived. Allar is a near lock to be the Nittany Lions’ starter when they take the field on Sept. 2 against West Virginia. Sure, James Franklin has said there’s a competition at every position, but it’s safe for everyone else to bypass that sentiment on this one.

Allar is the best quarterback in the room — I thought that was the case last year, too — and has a chance to push Penn State to the next echelon of college football.

Franklin compared him to the old school prototype because of his size, but there’s an argument to be made that he’s more of a modern quarterback than a throwback. The 6-foot-5, 242-pound signal caller has old school size, but can do the type of things some of the best quarterbacks in football can now do.

He has elite arm strength with the ability to make every throw at every depth of the field. More impressively, and arguably more importantly, he can make them from different arm slots. Allar has the ability to drop his arm down to side arm to make throws and generates power on his passes without the need to have a firm base. One of the issues that can arise with that is the ability to layer the ball in at different depths — putting enough loft to put passes in ideal spots — but that isn’t an issue here.

Arguably Allar’s most impressive throw from last season was a drop in his debut against Purdue. He lofted a pass over a defender that was in front of tight end Tyler Warren, but not so high that the player behind the Nittany Lion could make a play on it. Warren couldn’t haul it in, but that’s the kind of throw Allar can make that not every quarterback can make. That will bail him out of a few potential poor decisions, but it’s not like his decision making was an issue in his limited action last year.

Athletically, the sophomore doesn’t have the same speed as his predecessor, Sean Clifford, but has enough to take yardage that’s given to him. Couple that with his size and he should be able to make a few plays as a runner this season.

All of that aside, Allar still has a lot to prove this year. He hasn’t had to fully control a game and operate under the pressure of being a starting quarterback. That being said, Allar has enormous upside and has a legitimate chance to lead this program to the College Football Playoff this year.

Key backup: Redshirt freshman Beau Pribula

Pribula is almost the exact opposite of Allar as a quarterback. He’s a high-level athlete with the speed and acceleration to be a major threat in the running game but can also be good enough as a passer to be a starter in the Big Ten.

He’s smaller than Allar at 6-foot-2, 206 pounds and doesn’t have the same level of arm strength. Pribula is an above average passer who will likely need a different type of offense to succeed than the one the Nittany Lions are likely to run this year. Still, there have been hints at a role for him in the offense even with Allar as the starter — similar to what Tommy Stevens and Will Levis did in their time at Penn State — but even those players in the past never had that role be a major part of the offense.

It will be interesting to see how the offense would change if Allar were forced to miss any time this season. Pribula has enough talent to succeed, especially because his athleticism could add substantial pressure to a defense when Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are in the backfield, but it’s reasonable to question if it would be enough this year against the best schools in the Big Ten. Now, those questions exist for Allar too, but they’re much more pronounced if his classmate has to take the helm.

The attempts down the sidelines and throws to the deep middle of the field would likely decrease and the number of quarterback runs and short throws would likely increase. That doesn’t mean the group couldn’t be successful, but it would be surprising if that’s what offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich wants his offense to look like this year.

Pribula could be a starter down the road and should be a quality college quarterback by the time it’s all said and done. But if that time has to be this year, then Penn State is likely looking at a very different offense with a very different set of objectives on a week to week basis.

Freshman to watch: Jaxon Smolik

Smolik is an interesting option as the team’s only other scholarship quarterback this season. He’s not quite the athlete Pribula is, but doesn’t boast the same arm talent as Allar either. He’s much more in the mold of a game manager — an accurate quarterback who can march his team up and down the field but isn’t going to break the game open with big plays. He’s going to do his damage from within the confines of the pocket as a passer and on medium-depth throws where his ball placement can shine.

Odds are his upside will be dictated by how accurate he is at the college level. If he can hit the mark consistently and continue to get stronger, there’s no reason to believe Smolik can’t have success at Penn State down the road.

This story was originally published June 20, 2023 at 3:42 PM.

Jon Sauber

Centre Daily Times

(814) 231-6461

Jon Sauber covers Penn State football and men’s basketball for the Centre Daily Times. He earned his B.A. in digital and print journalism from Penn State and his M.A. in sports journalism from IUPUI. His previous stops include jobs at The Indianapolis Star, the NCAA, and Rivals.