Drew Allar is the attraction. He is the one you watch, the one you come to see. As Penn State packed Beaver Stadium for the fourth-largest crowd in the venue’s history on Saturday, some of that may have been the weather, the opponent and the obligatory promise of what a new season brings.
But no small part of it was Allar, a kid not far removed from high school still boasting a boyish smile and red cheeks to match. But behind that soft facade is the makings of a killer, one who boasts an uncanny sense in the pocket, unreasonably good touch for his size and a rocket arm that zips the ball between Point A and Point B like it’s nothing.
To be sure, Penn State has had great quarterbacks over the past two decades, but many of them have been the facilitator of the attractions. Trace McSorley was a winner, a fighter and a playmaker, but he was not the attraction, Saquon Barkley was. Matt McGloin was many of the same things but he is beloved for his personality and his place in Penn State history not so much his unmatched play. Christian Hackenberg was an attraction promised but Allen Robinson was the star as the world fell down around the program. Sean Clifford was an adept game manager and better than he gets credit for but never generational in his play. The likes of Daryll Clark and Michael Robinson came close, but their utility belt of skills made them more a Swiss army knife than traditional quarterbacking assassins.
Allar is different, and as he slung his way to 325 passing yards on a 72% completion rate (and what should have been an interception) in Penn State’s 38-15 win over West Virginia on Saturday night, he did so with the kind of mechanical ease that sent a current through everyone’s circuits until the word “it” lit up in their minds. He has it, whatever it is. There it is right in front of you, wearing No. 15.
In a sense, nothing about Saturday night was a surprise when it came to Allar, but it was in many ways a much fuller picture of what he can do. In 2022, Allar was seen through the slots of a Zoetrope, an early pre-animation device in which viewers would look through slots on a spinning wheel to watch a series of pictures come to life. Last season everyone saw Allar through those slots — glimpses here, flashes there — but the horse never ran in a full gallop. You could only see the strides in stuttered form.
Watching Allar fully realized is like seeing something in 1080p for the first time. He is smooth, accurate, smart, and many of the things which make you realize that he is simply special. The game will eventually be hard on Allar and he will stumble, but it’s clear he is the attraction. He is the reason you watch, and the reason fans will believe that no matter what woes this team might have, that this kid from Ohio can make something happen. He looks the part of the missing piece so many believe him to be.
“That’s the Drew that we saw in the preseason camp,” Penn State coach James Franklin said after the game. “You know, I think to be honest, that’s the Drew we saw in limited reps last year in terms of when he got in the game and did some really good things. He just feels very poised and confident.”
Ask the man himself and Allar makes a key distinction. He doesn’t feel nervous before games, and he insists he didn’t feel nervous on Saturday night. Instead, there is an anxiousness to just get going, an anxiousness to turn practice into performance.
“It’s a credit to the coaching staff really and the whole team,” Allar said. “We really prepare with everything we have. We don’t leave any stone unturned. And that just leads to confidence.”
In some ways Allar’s performance on Saturday night was a blessing and a curse. In a world where one might expect some bumps in the road for a newly minted starter, Allar played like it wasn’t his first start. He was imperfect, but take someone out of a coma and show them Allar’s game on Saturday and they would have believed any age you told them. In turn, if Allar wanted to temper expectations in a program that boasts a 1-0 week-by-week mentality, it’s impossible to avoid the curiosity of what Allar might be able to do while at Penn State. The Nittany Lions have become so consistent as a program that the season is viewed through the lens of Ohio State and Michigan. Even as Penn State eventually waltzed to a fairly straightforward victory, the blemishes in that performance were amplified and framed within the context of “can you get away with that mistake against Michigan?” Such is life when the margins are so small.
Allar’s performance both in the box score and with your own two eyes makes the curiosity unavoidable in the other direction. Is he the one to get the program over the hump? Is he the one to slay the dragons? And if he isn’t, is anyone?
And that’s something of an insane situation to be in all of four quarters into his starting career. To opine about a program’s national title hopes because of a few nice throws against a not particularly good team. If Allar was going to ease into his growing expectations, that plan was left on the bus as he tossed beauty after beauty.
Then again, as his shirt sits on the rack at Dick’s Sporting Goods, my colleague Mike Poorman quipped that if Allar didn’t want the pressure he didn’t have to sign the licensing deal.
So I suppose if he didn’t want the pressure, he didn’t have to play so darn good on Saturday night either. Allar fever indeed.
