Former Penn State Staffer Says Drew Allar Would Probably Win Heisman If He Was at OSU

One former Penn State assistant doesn't think Drew Allar came close to hitting his ceiling during his four years with the Nittany Lions.

"If he were at Ohio State, he'd probably win the Heisman Trophy," the assistant told Bruce Feldman and Ralph D. Russo of The Athletic. "He has it all. Nobody works harder than that kid. My heart breaks for that kid."

A Penn State staffer was also quoted as saying that "quarterback play has been a problem most of the time" during James Franklin's tenure.

Franklin's 104 wins are tied for second in program history behind Joe Paterno. The Nittany Lions were winning games at a clip not even Paterno matched toward the end of his legendary career.

But Franklin continually lacked a quarterback who could lift the offense over the top. Trace McSorley and Sean Clifford were solid performers, but neither was an elite passer, which put a ceiling on the team's ambitions.

Things were supposed to be different with Allar, a 5-star recruit and the No. 4 QB in 247Sports' composite rankings for 2022. There was a symbolic significance to going into the Buckeye State and signing a blue-chipper out from under Ohio State's nose, too.

Instead, fans will look back on Allar's college career and wonder what could've been. In three years as the starter, he averaged 201.7 passing yards per game and had 57 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.

Allar Dime to Ross

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The Medina, Ohio, native may have simply been mis-evaluated. Look back at any given recruiting class and the players who lived up to the billing are typically few and far between.

ESPN's Jake Trotter, Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich reported that sources from the NFL "felt the Nittany Lions operated like they didn't fully trust [Allar]."

"And they have more information than we do," one personnel executive said. "When they needed him to put it on his back, you just never saw that. ... But the other side of the argument is, his career so eerily mirrored [Christian] Hackenberg, you do wonder if there's a quarterback development issue."

Maybe things would've gone differently for Allar if he had played under Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, but that's far from a guarantee. Devin Brown, a 4-star prospect in 2022, had three nondescript years in Columbus before transferring to Cal. Kyle McCord also moved on and had his best year at Syracuse in 2024 after he was deemed to not be good enough as the starter.

Two things could be true. Franklin and the Penn State coaching staff failed at developing Allar as a quarterback, and he ultimately may have lacked the tools necessary to hit the heights everybody had hoped for him.