Penn State's Drew Allar Discusses New NIL Deal With Venmo

Allar discussed the deal during a bye-week Zoom interview in which he sought to separate his NIL pursuits from his preparation for Oregon. The quarterback seeks to lead Penn State to its first win over a top-10 team at Beaver Stadium since 2016.

“My agents do a great job of bringing me everything but also trying to make it as flexible as possible for me, because at the end of the day, my main thing is graduating and being ready for the season,” Allar said in the interview held on Penn State’s bye-week off day. “And I think between myself and Penn State and my agents, we do a great job of balancing everything. For this to happen on a bye week is obviously the easiest thing for me, not having to do it on a game week or the day before a game.”

Allar is in his third season as Penn State’s starting quarterback, having returned for his senior year despite receiving first-round NFL Draft grades, according to Nittany Lions coach James Franklin. The quarterback also has been one of college football’s most sought-after athletes in terms of NIL.

Allar’s NIL partnership with Venmo followed three weeks after he announced the deal to represent Nike and a month after appearing in the American Eagle ad campaign for Kelce’s “Tru Kolors” apparel line. At Penn State, Allar also has partnered with T-Mobile, EA Sports, Bose, Urban Outfitters and Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, among others. As a freshman in 2022, Allar wrote a children’s book in one of his first NIL deals.

Allar, who is represented by CAA, said his agents bring him “every single deal no matter what,” and give him advice but don’t pressure him regarding deals during the season. Allar also manages his schedule by taking just one class this semester. He said that the combination allows him to invest more into football, important specifically this week.

“[There’s] a great academic staff at Penn State, and they've helped me put myself in the position to only have to have one class my fall semester, just because of the amount of classes I've taken up until this point in my time here,” Allar said. “That's really been helpful for me, just because I can obviously take care of all my assignments, but also put more time and energy into investing in football,” Allar said.

Through this latest NIL deal, Allar said that he wants fans to see that he uses Venmo just like them.

“It’s something I've always used throughout, especially since I've been in college, just for whatever payments I needed to split with roommates, teammates and all that sort of stuff,” Allar said. “So for me, it was kind of easy when I had the opportunity to go with it, because it's something I used on a regular basis for my four years here at Penn State.”

In August, Venmo announced a partnership with the NCAA aimed at preventing harassment of athletes. The initiative included a hotline for athletes to report online abuse and “unwanted interactions,” according to ESPN. At Big Ten Football Media Days in July, Allar said that he has dealt with some "ugly interactions" online, including people contacting him through Venmo asking for money.

"Honestly, that was the one thing that has always caught me off guard," Allar said. "Like, I didn't expect that part as a starting quarterback in college."

Meanwhile, Allar is preparing to face Oregon in the White Out on Saturday. The game is a rematch of last season’s Big Ten Championship, which the Ducks won 45-37. Allar threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score in the game.

Saturday’s game is just the second White Out to feature two AP top-10 teams and marks the first time Allar will face a top-10 team in the spectacle. Penn State hosts Oregon at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night.