Penn State quarterback Drew Allar discusses new offense under Andy Kotelnicki
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar met with the media on Saturday afternoon after the team’s THON open house event at Holuba Hall. The team sang, danced and played with Four Diamonds families from the event going on across the road at the Bryce Jordan Center for over an hour.
But the business of football came to mind afterward in our first chance to speak with Allar since the end of the 2023 season. Check out what he had to say here or on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel. Allar discussed transfer receiver Julian Fleming, and talked at length about the new offense under Andy Kotelnicki.
Not everything is out the window for Penn State in 2024
While head coach James Franklin discussed continuity as a major part of the team’s plans this spring with three new coordinators, he was upfront with that plan from the beginning with his team.
“One of the big things Coach Franklin told the whole offense offensive unit when he hired Coach K was he wasn’t hiring Coach K to come in and, you know, revamp the whole offense,” Allar said.
“They’re doing what’s best for Penn State and us his offense,” Allar said, echoing Franklins comments from Tuesday. “Honestly it’s a lot of carryover from last year. Some tweaks and changes, like kind of simplifying some things down, like putting things into more like family family groupings to make it easier for us to learn and pick up on.”
As for Kotelnicki, he’s been engaged with his quarterbacks and helping them with the transition.
“He’s been great just kind of asking all the quarterbacks opinions on things quizzing us when he gets a chance to quiz us. I love being around Coach K brings a great energy to our offensive unit.”
A similar refrain from last offseason for Allar
As for what Allar is doing during the offseason, he says he’s studying offense. For the second year in a row, the Allar discussed a specific type of NFL offense that he’s excited to see Penn State incorporate into their attack.
“So I kind of just love watching those systems because of how the NFL is like a lot of the West Coast like Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan tree right now,” Allar said.
“I’ll just go through and watch all those cut-ups, just stuff that we have in our offense and hopefully getting in this year. That kind of fits our whole offense.”
Earlier this week, we discussed what the data said about Kotelnicki’s use of motions, shifts, and formations to create advantages within the offense. Does the combination of a zone-rushing attack mean that Penn State will have similar success?
“Yeah, I think so. Because Coach K has obviously played online and when he first got into coaching, he was upfront, o-line, tight end guy. Being an explosive offense is being balanced. You have to be able to throw the ball when you want to and be able to run the ball when you want to. I think Coach K’s past has shown that just with his numbers. Just go on looking at the analytics he’s had in his past years as a coordinator; they’re a very well-balanced offense.”
