By Mark Pszonak
Drew Allar had an opportunity to showcase his abilities last night against Notre Dame in the National Semifinals. Some of the excited viewers were NFL general managers and coaches, who were hoping to see the skills of a high first round draft pick this spring. Instead, they saw proof that Allar isn’t ready for the NFL.
It was a difficult night for Allar and Penn State, who lost 27-24 to Notre Dame. Allar completed 12 of 23 passes for 135 yards and one brutal interception which led to the game-winning field goal. Amazingly, of his 12 receptions, nine went to tight ends and three went to running backs. If you do the math, this means that Penn State didn’t have a wide receiver with a reception.
Penn State wide receivers had 0 receptions in the Orange Bowl loss to Notre Dame
They were the 7th FBS team to have such a game in 2024, the other 6 were all from Navy (4), Army (1) and Air Force (1)
They were also the first team in a CFP game to have 0 receptions from WRs
— Blake Warye (@bwaryeofblake) January 10, 2025
This part is as much on head coach James Franklin as it is on Allar. But this can’t be a reality during a National Semifinal. Coach Franklin discussed the situation after the game, but his response didn’t necessarily make it easier to understand.
James Franklin on having no receiver catch a single pass: "We tried a couple early on and weren’t able to convert them – tightly contested coverage. They are a man coverage team. That’s one of the storylines of the game."
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 10, 2025
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Back to Allar, the troubling realization should be that this performance isn’t necessarily an outlier, especially recently. In his four most recent games (Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game and SMU, Boise State and Notre Dame in playoffs) he completed 57 of 109 passes for 659 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. While he set a Penn State record this season by completing 67% of his passes, during the last four games, which were the most important of the season, he completed 52%.
There has been plenty of buzz, which was getting continually louder, that Allar would enter the NFL Draft after stating a couple of weeks ago that he would return to Penn State in 2025. The next few days will be very interesting to see if this buzz continues or if it gradually dissipates.
If the buzz about Allar being a first-round draft pick continues, which I know seems confusing right now but NFL eyes tend to see things differently, then what will he decide? He isn’t ready for the NFL right now and could use another year at Penn State to improve his game, but if he is still graded as a first round pick he should enter the draft.
This is an opportunity that doesn’t come around for everyone. And if you look at Penn State’s roster situation in 2025, will Allar’s opportunity to have a more productive season increase? Unlikely, since All-American tight end Tyler Warren and star running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are all likely heading to the NFL. This isn’t to say that the cupboard will be bare in Happy Valley, but are the Nittany Lions replacing these players with better options for Allar?
This will be an interesting few days for Allar, Penn State and everyone in Happy Valley.
