If Penn State true freshman quarterback Drew Allar were to declare for the NFL Draft the moment he became eligible at the end of his junior season, Penn State will have played 34 regular season games between now and then — 10 remaining this year and at least 12 each of the following two seasons.
It’s an interesting thing to think about, knowing exactly how long a player might have left in his career. Professional athletes are under contract, but there are no rules, bylaws or eligibility constraints that prevent a player from simply staying with his team for two decades if each party so desires. The clock is always ticking for an athlete, but nothing ticks quite like the clock marching toward the moment a college football player must hang up his school’s jersey for good. For better or worse, that time will run out and you can see it coming. You will leave whether you want to or not.
For the likes of Allar and Penn State, it puts a window of opportunity in front of each. Saturday’s 46-10 thrashing of Ohio with Allar throwing two gorgeous touchdown passes in the process was the clearest the window has been since he stepped foot on campus just a few months ago. In a sense, it seems silly to base his future at Penn State — and what the program might do with him at the helm — on a single series against Purdue and a second half played against a team Penn State was expected to beat by 40, but Allar’s own play demands it.
Because Allar appears to match — if not exceed — the billing so many have bestowed upon him. He is strong, confident in the pocket and appears unshaken by the moment so far. If Christian Hackenberg was condemned to a life of being sacked in spite of his own potential, Allar very well may be the karmic balancing of the scales, sliding past pressure as he flicks touchdown passes 40-yards away with the sort of ease that makes it look like he’s still in high school unloading on some poor helpless opponent.
There is a certain infectious insanity unfolding and growing as Allar showcases his skills for fans and onlookers. He has thrown 12 passes, no small part of which have come under little to no pressure, and no small part of which have been in manageable situations relative to down, distance, score and location on the field. We as an outside collective have seen very little to nothing of Allar in moments of great duress or against the teams Penn State is trying to unseat atop the Big Ten Conference.
And yet we all know “it” when we see “it.”
“He’s professional,” receiver Harrison Wallace said. “He acts like he has been there before. You cannot really tell that he is a rookie. He just handles his business as a professional. The way that he handles himself and the way that he comes to work every day, you can tell. He just comes to work every day. That mindset that ‘I am going to be the best that I can be and compete for the job.’”
That’s sort of the problem with the early stages of the Drew Allar experience. As the equation stands today, Sean Clifford is the starting quarterback and Allar will likely play again against Western Michigan and could make appearances as the circumstances allow in Big Ten play. In those moments he will have the opportunity to shine like he did on Saturday, and it will make you think about what the future could hold.
But the question will linger: should the future be now? And therein lies the gamble. Clifford sits atop Penn State’s depth chart as one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football. Whatever Clifford’s shortcomings might be, he too was excellent on Saturday, following up a solid road performance against Purdue the week prior that was overshadowed by a near game-losing mistake. Any apathy or boredom that Clifford might serve up for Penn State fans doesn’t change the fact he has done more than his fair share to win each of the Nittany Lions’ two games this season and seems to be steadily on course to do more of the same as the season rolls along.
Equally true is the lack of any real information about Allar’s weaknesses. Is he still learning to read and grasp complicated defenses at the level he needs to? Is he still behind Clifford in different areas? Is he prone to a certain kind of mistake that we have yet to see? The list goes on and on. In turn, Saturday was an exercise in only seeing some of the equation. Without knowing more about Allar as a quarterback, the only data points are limited — blindingly positive, but limited all the same.
“This is my last year,” Clifford said after the game. “I want to be out there with my guys as much as possible. The one thing I will say is if it means giving up some time to get guys prepared, I want to win more than anything. I have no ego in that. The only thing that matters to me is winning football games. I know how important it is to get those guys reps because if anything happens to me, I want to win games. That’s all that matters. I think that it was awesome today to be able to get Drew in there for series after series and [Christian Veilleux] in a couple series as well. It was a lot of fun to watch and I’m just super proud of our room because I think that that we handle everything well.”
Subsequently, those outright calling for Allar to start over Clifford are basing this a lot more the feeling Allar gives you when you watch him play than any real knowledge of anything other than what those 12 passes — impressive, to be sure — have provided. This is particularly true when you consider Franklin will likely never sacrifice future development for present odds of success.
Counterpoint: Watch that kid throw the ball and stand in the pocket. Who cares what I know or do not know.
And that feeling counts for something though, right? That’s what everyone tells themselves on the tail end of Clifford’s career — a player who has just about fully explored his potential. That feeling you get when Allar throws a pass and it makes you raise your eyebrows a bit. “It” has to count for something, right? Or am I simply excited about whatever is new?
This is the question that will plague Penn State all year if the Nittany Lions don’t come out on top against Auburn next week or some productive combination of Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. If Penn State wins some/all of those games with Clifford then it all becomes elementary. But if Penn State struggles, if the offense sputters and Clifford makes a few critical mistakes, it will be impossible not to wonder what might have been. Then again the Nittany Lions have enough issues elsewhere that quarterback may not end up being the fulcrum for the season.
Nevertheless, there might only be 34 games left, and figuring out how to make them count is the challenge.
