Four-Star Quarterback Drew Allar Commits to Penn State

Story posted March 8, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Andrew Field

Early Monday morning, four-star pro-style quarterback Drew Allar (Medina, Ohio) committed to Penn State as he became the newest member of the 2022 class.

Allar, who stands at 6 feet 5 inches and weighs in at 220 pounds, picked the Nittany Lions over schools from the likes of Notre Dame and Indiana. Along with the addition of Allar, Penn State now jumps from the No. 8 class to the No. 5 class in the 2022 cycle.

According to 247sports, Allar is the No. 6 pro-style passer and No. 89 overall prospect in the class. Allar still has another year before he comes to Happy Valley, but right now he is tracking to be the highest-rated quarterback that James Franklin has recruited in his tenure since he took over the head coaching job in 2014.

During his junior season, Allar threw for 2,962 yards and 26 touchdowns. He is the second quarterback joining the class along with fellow four-star Beau Pribula from York, Pennsylvania.

In an article from 247sports written by Steve Wiltfong, Allar spoke about his decision and the main factors of why he chose Penn State. 

“What excites me is the type of program they are, they have a winning culture and keep getting better year after year,” Allar said. “Also I know wherever Coach Yurcich goes they put up a ton of points and yards.”

Yurcich, who was hired in January as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after coming from Texas, is already having success with the commitment of Allar.

Even though in years past Franklin has been able to win with quarterbacks like Trace McSorley, Tommy Stevens and Will Levis, current quarterback Sean Clifford was the only four-star recruit (according to 247sports) that Penn State has signed at quarterback since Christian Hackenberg (five-star), who was recruited and committed to former head coach Bill O’Brien.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to the success of a quarterback. McSorley, the all-time winningest quarterback in Penn State Football history, was mainly recruited to play safety out of high school. Sometimes those intangibles, like the ability McSorley had to win close games, aren’t measured in a recruit’s ranking. But Allar possesses the size, skillset and raw abilities of an exciting signing.

Not only does this help strengthen the quarterback room in 2022, but it also creates positive competition for Allar, Pribula and current quarterbacks on the roster in Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux as well.

Penn State will continue to recruit multiple prospects as it tries to reload the weapons from years past. If one thing is for sure, it’s that Franklin and Yurcich are far from finished in bringing talented offensive players to Happy Valley.

 

Andrew Field is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email aaf5329@psu.edu.