Penn State 2025 Position Preview: Drew Allar's Return Signals Strength at QB

All eyes are on Penn State’s quarterback room, primarily the starter, entering the 2025 season. Drew Allar begins his third year as the Nittany Lions’ QB1 with much to prove. He’s a projected first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft despite questions about his big-game performances. 

Behind Allar is a bundle of young, unproven gunslingers in Ethan Grunkemeyer, Jaxon Smolik and Bekkem Kritza, three scholarship quarterbacks who have combined to throw two college passes.  Regardless of who serves as the backup, this room could decide whether Penn State and James Franklin hold up hardware this season.  

As the 2025 Penn State football season approaches, we begin our position-by-position look at the Nittany Lions with the quarterbacks. 

Senior Drew Allar 

Allar walked off Hard Rock Stadium’s turf with a heavy heart. The Nittany Lions fell 27-24 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, and the Ohio native took much of the blame. Allar completed 12 of 23 passes for 135 yards and the interception that ultimately cost Penn State a trip to the College Football Playoff championship game. 

The rising senior struggled yet again in a big game. Through his two seasons as the starter, Allar has shown the toolkit needed to compete at a high level but often has crumbled under pressure. His performances against Ohio State in 2023 (18-for-42, 191 yards, one touchdown), Michigan in 2023 (10-for-23, 70 yards, one touchdown) and Ohio State in 2024 (12-for-20, 146 yards, one interception) serve as a few examples. That must change if Allar wants to lead Penn State to a title and raise his draft stock. 

Franklin sought to address this concern, in part, by adding Trace McSorley to the coaching staff in February. McSorley, who led the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title, serves as the assistant quarterbacks coach and looks to tune not only Allar’s mechanics but also his big-game mentality. 

Even with his struggles under the bright lights, Allar is one of the best quarterbacks in college football. His biggest strength is protecting the ball. Allar opened his career completing 311 straight attempts without an interception, breaking an FBS record previously held by former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. In his three seasons at Penn State, Allar has a touchdown/interception ratio of 53/10 and an interception rate of 1.2 percent, among the best in college football.

This offseason, Allar (6-5, 235 pounds) made significant changes to his frame. As offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki joked during spring practice, “you can actually see his deltoids and traps a little bit.”

“I mean, a year ago, people were talking about his mobility, and I think he's proven that he can be mobile,” Kotelnicki said. “He's only improved that, which is a specific thing to him.”

Allar also showed improvement from his sophomore to junior seasons, particularly in his accuracy. In 2023, Allar completed 59.9 percent of his passes; as a junior, Allar improved that to 66.5 percent. If he takes another step forward this season, Allar could be known as the best quarterback in college football and the eventual No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.  

“He’s progressed every single year,” Franklin said in April. “We need him to continue to take another step this year in every area, just like he always has.”