James Franklin Says Every Coach Would Take Play Of Drew Allar In 2023

Following the Michigan State game, James Franklin praised Drew Allar and his performance in 2023. It wasn’t perfect, but the sky is the limit for Allar.

The world of recruiting is so interesting in college football. The second Penn State football QB Drew Allar made his commitment to the Nittany Lions everyone was excited. When Sean Clifford struggled last season, the immediate response was put in Drew Allar.

Now, we’ve seen a 12-game slate with Allar at the helm and he had a very successful season. For a first-year starter, Allar met or even exceeded expectations. James Franklin was pleased overall with Allar’s performance last night and throughout the season.

James Franklin praises Drew Allar for his success in 2023

Following the Michigan State game, Drew Allar recommitted himself to James Franklin and the Penn State football team. Allar had a great season overall and Franklin agreed with that. Now, the Nittany Lion head coach didn’t think it was perfect but he defended his star sophomore quarterback last night.

Franklin said, “…It’s interesting since everyone wants to talk about criticisms. Do you know how many touchdown passes he had this year? …24 [touchdown passes] and 1 interception. If you just took that statistic and told the 132 coaches in the country that their quarterback would have those stats before the season started I think they would take it and run. So, as a first-year starter, I thought he did some really good things.

Obviously, I thought we did some good things tonight as far as emphasizing the tight ends and the running backs. I thought we did that the last two weeks. We were able to take some shots and be explosive. So, yeah I think he’s played really well, I think he’s played really well all year.

Obviously, there are areas that we need to get better as an offense, and I think there are areas that Drew needs to get better at there’s no doubt about it. I don’t think there’s a coach in the country that would take those statistics and run.”

A season of growing for Allar

We’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly for Drew Allar this season. But at the end of the day, he played very well considering the tricky situation he dealt with having Mike Yurcich in the offensive coordinator role this season. His greatest asset this year was protecting the football, maybe too much at times.

But Allar has proven that he can make all of the throws. But he ended the 2023 season with a bang last night, throwing for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns against Michigan State.