Drew Allar details his growth as a leader at Penn State in 2024

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar didn’t have the ending to the 2024 season that he was hoping for, but he still feels like he grew a ton as a leader and player this past year.

Allar had the Nittany Lions on the verge of advancing to the national championship game, before throwing a critical interception late in the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame.

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Despite that pick, Drew Allar still sees plenty of positives to take away from what he and Penn State did this season.

“I learned a lot about myself, and I think it’s a credit to the coaching staff for just allowing me to be me,” Drew Allar said. “I think I grew a lot, on the field, off the field.”

The former five-star recruit has already announced that he is returning to school for the 2025 season and is bypassing the opportunity to be a potential first-round pick in the NFL Draft.

Allar plans to use his experiences from this season to help Penn State get back to the College Football Playoff in 2025 and perhaps advance even further.

“Just looking forward to continuing to grow, learn more about myself, get better in any way I can – on the field, off the field. So just looking for the opportunity,” Allar said. “Definitely going to learn from this. But yea, just going to learn from it and take it on the chin right now.”

Joel Klatt states Drew Allar ‘jumped on the sword’ after late-game interception

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt defended Penn State QB Drew Allar despite the latter throwing the proverbial game-ending interception against Notre Dame.

Klatt credited the Penn State signal caller for owning up to the mistake and facing the music. Not many college kids could’ve handled that type of spotlight, especially after a game like that.

Allar’s original comments about the decision-making are below and Klatt credited him.

“Yeah, I mean, I was going through my progression, got to the backside, and honestly I was just trying to throw it at his feet but I should have just thrown it away,” Allar said. “I felt the first two progressions not open just because of the situation we were in, but I was just trying to throw it at Amari’s feet, but just didn’t execute what I was trying to do.”

“He just jumped on the sword right there,” Klatt said on his podcast. “Drew Allar just stood up like a man and took the bullet. I got so much respect for him right there. I got so much respect for, first of all, showing up like that and just and just doing that interview, that takes guts, and it takes a lot of courage.” 

In fact, Klatt defended Allar’s decision-making on the play. It wasn’t all on the QB and it could result in a breakdown of the offense or just good defense by Notre Dame.

“Here’s the reality of the play. And this is, and I want you to listen closely, Drew Allar is gonna live with that for the rest of his life,” Klatt said. “It wasn’t totally his fault. Okay? The reality is that is a progression read. It’s man coverage. So he’s reading a progression, one to Tyler Warren into the flat on the left, two to the corner route up top. It’s not there.

“I believe that was Trey Wallace and three to Amari coming in on the dig route from the wide side of the field. And for anybody that’s ever played the position, when you have to throw the ball downfield to your third receiver. Very rarely are you ever going to be on platform, meaning, like fully, totally protected, in rhythm, feet underneath you.”