Penn State QB Drew Allar embracing pressure, expectations in 2025. Here’s why
Drew Allar walked into an office in the Lasch Football Building greeting the people inside with a smile and small talk before sitting down. Allar, now 21 years old and heading into his fourth year of college, is much different now than he was when he enrolled as a 17-year-old.
The Nittany Lion quarterback is bigger and stronger. There’s a confidence in his voice that wasn’t as prevalent four years ago. And the confidence extends into what he says. He’s not just giving platitudes or using coach-speak to navigate his way through the questions being asked of him. That’s clear when he’s responding to the elephant in the room — the interception against Notre Dame that all but ended Penn State’s 2024 season.
“In that moment, I definitely thought I did the right thing,” Allar told the Centre Daily Times in mid-July. “Obviously looking back at it, there’s a lot that I would change. The first thing that hit me was that I was drifting too much in the pocket. That’s honestly probably what caused it — not necessarily even the throw. It was more that I drifted left, and I put (guard) Vega Ioane in a really bad spot where he got beat outside because I’m not where I’m supposed to be in the pocket. I think that was the biggest thing I was disappointed or upset with myself.”
Allar is smiling most of the time he speaks. But there is seriousness in his voice. The interception draws some of that out. So does addressing the criticism he’s received. And what he wants out of his final year.
This version of Allar is different — very different — from the one who enrolled at Penn State as a teenager.
Gone is the teenager who looks very much like a kid, with rosy cheeks and room to fill out his 6-foot-5 frame. In his place is a confident veteran, one who believes in who he is and what he’s capable of — and knows how far the Nittany Lions can go in 2025.
Getting past 2024
To get there, he and the rest of the program have to let go of how the 2024 season ended. It has been replayed ad nauseam at this point. With a little over 30 seconds left in a tie game in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame, Allar threw an interception that all but gave the Fighting Irish the win.
He was emotional afterward. Most of the Nittany Lions were. And then came the critics. This was all the proof that they needed, that Allar was overhyped, that he wasn’t the quarterback he was billed to be as a five-star recruit. Those conversations haven’t ended. They won’t until the season begins and he can prove that was a blip on the radar.
But Allar isn’t overly concerned with all of those opinions. He knows that comes with the territory. And his offensive coordinator has seen him navigate all of it well.
“He probably learned to handle it the right way faster than a lot (of people),” offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki told the CDT in May. “The hardest world to live in, quite honestly, is the one where it’s almost there. We’re three plays away from having an undefeated season. ... The spotlight is even brighter, the criticism is even greater. I think he’s handled it marvelously.”
With the spotlight not yet focused on Allar in the preseason, his offseason mostly flying under the radar to the general public. But that doesn’t change that his day-to-day is very different now than it was when he first got to Penn State.
It started in 2023 when his phone number got leaked ahead of the Ohio State game, and then his tearful response during postgame media availability after the loss drew critics who couldn’t fathom a quarterback showing his emotion after a big moment.
Now when he goes out, he rarely goes without being recognized. Allar estimated that about 90% of the time he steps out in public, he gets recognized and about half the time he gets approached by someone. But he is unbothered. And even likes to reflect on how far he’s come with being a public figure.
“I talked about that a decent amount with my family,” Allar said. “It is crazy how everything comes full circle. Because I remember when I was at that point in my life, especially when I was younger, going to meet and greets with NFL guys and seeing NFL guys just walking, whether that be at games, out of games, or in a restaurant or something. That part was always the craziest thing growing up. But then being in those shoes, it’s definitely a different perspective.”
Taking the next step
The outside noise is not a focus for Allar, but there is plenty of it heading into 2025. He has taken on some of the reputation that head coach James Franklin has for not performing well in big games. Right or wrong, it will continue to be the case until the Nittany Lions take down one of the perceived heavyweights of college football.
This year there should be plenty of opportunities for that, with regular-season matchups against Oregon and Ohio State and potential postseason games.
“The main reason I came back was to win,” Allar said. “That starts with, obviously, the Big Ten. But we have bigger goals than that. Having a shot at both of those opportunities last year and falling short by one score and two score games was very frustrating for me, but very eye-opening at the same time. Because it wasn’t a matter of we were out-physicaled or out-talented, just out-executed, from at least my standpoint.
“I know I could have played better in those games, and those are the kind of opportunities I want to have one more go at. To right the wrongs that I have had, and give me another opportunity to push it one more time to have our names up around this building.”
That’s why it wasn’t always a guarantee that he would come back, even after he announced his intention to return in December. Allar said a national title or hearing confidently from those in the know that he would go in the top 10 could have changed things. But that never came to fruition and, instead, he’s back in State College for Year 2 with Kotelnicki.
Allar will continue building upon what he learned in the first season, and help the team continue to take the next step. His belief in the offense, his buy-in to how the team prepares and in Kotelnicki is part of what will carry that, after it established a strong baseline in 2024.
“We want to prepare guys and have the opportunity for them to play [in the NFL]. Doing what they’re going to be asked to do is a huge part of their development,” Kotelnicki said. “The fact that the quarterback is doing that and can do it and sees it makes it that much easier for all of the other guys to see it, accept it and grow. I think it starts there.”
The quarterback’s growth will have a large say in how good Kotelnicki’s group — and the Nittany Lions as a whole — will be in 2025. Allar is the object the team orbits around. He just finished second in offensive player of the year voting in the preseason Big Ten media poll. He’s already being projected as a very high draft pick in 2026. That’s a lot of responsibility for a 21-year-old. But he’s learned to carry it as he’s grown up at Penn State.
Allar knows who he is now. He’s not ashamed when he gets emotional. He’s not shying away from the expectations. And he’s aware of the criticisms.
But he also firmly believes in what’s being built at Penn State. This year will dictate his place in that. He could prove to be a building block that could set the program up for the future.
Or he could be the final piece — the one that leads the program to its first national title in nearly 40 years.
