Penn State Football Opened the Lasch Building Recently. Here's What We Learned

In between hosting football camps and official visits, Penn State's James Franklin recently opened the Lasch Football Building for a media availability to discuss his team's offseason progress. Penn State football is a darling of the preseason projections, with Phil Steele positioning the Nittany Lions atop his 2025 power poll.

But Franklin and his staff are keeping things hyperfocused inside the program as summer workouts are underway. So what did we learn during the Lasch visit? Here's a look.

Quarterback Drew Allar looks different

Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has noticed a physical change in quarterback Drew Allar since January.

"Ask him to flex the next time you see him," Kotelnicki said. "You'll see. He's almost as good-looking as I am."

Allar's physical presence has been among the most notable story lines of Penn State's offseason. Since the Orange Bowl, Allar has returned to the weight room with new purpose. Coaches said he looks leaner and is noticably stronger. "I teased him the other day, you can actually see his deltoids and traps a little bit," Kotelnicki joked.

Penn State quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien has seen the transformation in Allar over last season as well, particularly in his ability to move in and out of the pocket.

"Just from a raw-athlete perspective, he's still continuing to grow there," O'Brien said. "He moved better than he has his entire career this spring. ... Maybe the biggest thing athletically is, he's continuing to become more dynamic, growing into his body. He has whiskers now for the first time, which makes me feel old, because when we recruited him he didn't."

Penn State's offensive line has lofty goals

There's a poster in offensive line coach Phil Trautwein's room that reads, "This is our year." Beneath that is a photo of the Joe Moore Award, presented since 2015 to the best offensive line in college football. Penn State has never won the award. Trautwein looks at his line, which returns five starters, and sees a real contender.

"I think this is the first time that I truly believe that," Trautwein said.

As Trautwein said, the Joe Moore Award often foreshadows larger success. Three award-winners also won national championships in the same season. Washington, the 2023 winner, reached the CFP title game. Michigan, which won in 2021 and '22, beat Washington for that 2023 title.

"We want to win the Joe Moore Award," Trautwein said. "This is our year. We've had that up, and that's our goal. ... If you look at who the finalists are, it's usually someone that's in the finals or someone that's deep in the playoffs. So we know that if we play well, then team success will come."

High praise for cornerback A.J. Harris

Penn State returned significant offensive talent from its 2025 roster, but some of the returning defensive players are going unnoticed. Chief among them is cornerback A.J. Harris, a second-year starter who could be among the best in Penn State history. At least according to Penn State cornerbacks coach Terry Smith.

"I expect him to be one of the best [cornerbacks] that ever played here," Smith said.

Harris was third-team all-Big Ten last season after making five pass breakups and an interception. Harris developed a reputation as one of the tightest cover corners in the Big Ten and will anchor Penn State's secondary with safety Zakee Wheatley. Smith called Harris as strong in coverage as any cornerback he has coached.

"His football IQ's off the charts," Smith said. "He understands the game, he studies the game, he's got all the physical attributes. He can cover, he can tackle, he can cover slot [receivers], he can cover outside guys. He can run. But I just think his IQ separates him. He just sees things a different way than most guys."

The power of production in the transfer portal

Franklin targeted former Syracuse receiver Trebor Pena in the transfer portal for a key reason: his production. The Nittany Lions viewed former North Carolina linebacker Amare Campbell similarly. Campbell made 76 tackles (10.5 for losses) and 6.5 sacks at North Carolina last season. He steps into Penn State's room as a plug-and-play linebacker, which position coach Dan Connor called vital for this defense.

"You've got to be grateful you can do that in the college football landscape now," Connor said. "That used to be more of an NFL thing, to get help like that. When you look at the linebacker room, and the lack of experience for the most part and losing a guy [Ta'Mere Robinson] to the portal, there's holes.

"You want to develop young guys. We'll be able to give a lot of guys chances to develop and grow in the system. But it's a long season, and you need a guy who can come in here and compete for a starting job and have a big role for us. So we were fortunate to get that done."

A victory for Jaxon Smolik

O'Brien began a non-football trivia contest in his quarterbacks room last year, which Allar won. During spring practice, though, Jaxon Smolik took top honors. Jack Lambert was second, with Allar and assistant quarterbacks coach Trace McSorley tying for third.

"They'll start fresh in fall camp," O'Brien said.

Penn State opens the 2025 season against Nevada on Aug. 30 at Beaver Stadium.