Drew Allar looks back on his recruitment

Expectations are high in Happy Valley for Penn State. A lot of that has to do with sophomore quarterback Drew Allar, who came to Penn State as a huge recruit and took a year to develop behind Sean Clifford in 2022. Now, even though head coach James Franklin has yet to name a starter, Allar is the expected starter.

In many ways, Allar was a unique player to add for Penn State because he was a more highly rated quarterback recruit than the Nittany Lions typically add. However, as Allar explained, it was not a sure thing that he’d be a top-tier recruit.

“Going into my junior year, I had maybe four offers, one Power-5 offer from Pitt,” Drew Allar said. “And then, when it really started taking off for me was my junior year. It was COVID during that time, so I didn’t get to go into any camps or anything like that.”

Despite not being able to go to camps, Allar was able to impress during his games and get on the radar of a lot of teams. He would go on to become a five-star recruit, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He was also the third-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2022.

“But in my junior year, we ended up beating St. Edwards, which is like the big powerhouse around me. And then we’d be Ignatius next week, which is like their rival. So it was like surreal back-to-back weeks in the playoffs. It was the first time a public school had beaten both of them back-to-back since it was like a 10-year gap between the last time that happened,” Allar said.

“I started getting a bunch of phone calls. I remember I got like three offers the day after we beat Ignatius,” Allar laughed. “So from that point on, it started really snowballing into this huge thing. After my junior year finished up, I had a lot of offers, especially from January to March, when it really started picking up with all the Power-5 teams looking into me and talking to me. So, I ended up committing to Penn State on my birthday, March 8. And then that’s how that whole process went, really.”

Drew Allar also said that he was connected to Penn State through offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Yurcich. However, when he initially recruited Allar, he was at Texas and when he went to Penn State Yurcich helped build a great relationship with him.

Drew Allar on how James Franklin reacted to his commitment

Drew Allar also explained James Franklin’s reaction to his commitment, explaining that Franklin wanted to make sure Allar was completely committed.

“So I committed; it was like a silent commit. I committed a week before I actually announced it,” Allar explained.

“And I remember I was on FaceTime with Coach Yurcich and Coach Franklin at the same time. I told him, and he was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? Because we want you, but we have to make sure you’re all set, and you’re gonna stay committed to us. So if you need any time just to think it through, make sure this is the place for you.’ And I was like, ‘No, I know this is the place for me.’”