James Franklin says Drew Allar has been 'really good' handling outside noise
The future is bright for James Franklin and Penn State, especially on the offensive side of the ball where there is tons of young talent at the skill positions. That includes freshman quarterback Drew Allar, who has primarily acted as a backup to Sean Clifford this season while he develops.
There are incredibly high expectations for Drew Allar going forward. However, according to James Franklin, he’s handling the outside noise well.
“Yeah, he’s been really good,” James Franklin said.
“Obviously there’s a lot of noise on the outside, probably more so than there’s ever been with the rule changes in terms of agents being able to talk to players, media, fans being able to reach out on social media. There’s a lot of people pulling at these guys from a lot of different directions, NIL, being able to sign with marketing people.”
This season, Drew Allar has played in nine games, burning his redshirt in the name of experience. Most of that work has come in mop-up time. He has completed 59.3% of passes for 5.8 yards per attempt and four touchdowns. He’s rushed for an additional touchdown.
“It’s more challenging than ever, but he’s really a neat young man,” James Franklin explained. “He’s handled this entire process, the recruiting process the right way, and that has continued on. Same thing with his parents. We’ve been able to have really honest conversations with the entire family, and then I was able to meet with Drew this week just to kind of see how he was doing and check in on him and make sure that our relationship continues to grow and prosper, as well.”
Drew Allar was a five-star recruit and the No. 28 overall prospect in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus rankings. The On3 Consensus is a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
“He’s been great, and he’s gotten a ton of reps this year, not only in games but also in practice.”
Sean Clifford on how he’s helping Drew Allar develop
Starting quarterback Sean Clifford is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in all of college football. It’s that experience that he’s been relying on to help Drew Allar develop.
“Drew and I are similar cats in that regard. I’m not a huge social media guy. I know I run a company off of it, but at the same time, that’s more the entrepreneurial side. If you look at my social, it’s pretty generic for the most part. Try to dress it up. But at the same time, Drew and I are similar on that. But from telling him stories and everything, yeah, absolutely. Just sharing experiences, sharing the ups and downs. Just the little nuances of things that have happened in the past that I wish I could have done better or things I was proud that I handled it a certain way,” Sean Clifford said.
“Trying to share as much knowledge as possible because it’s really the day-in, day-out that makes the quarterback.”
Penn State has one more game left in the 2022-23 season, The Rose Bowl. It will be played at 5:00 PM EST on January 2nd. There, Drew Allar will back up Sean Clifford.