Drew Allar gives initial impressions of Andy Kotelnicki

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin recently hired Andy Kotelnicki to be the team’s new offensive coordinator. Now, without too much time to get to know one another, quarterback Drew Allar shared his thoughts on Kotelnicki.

Despite only having a limited time together at this point, Allar is excited about Kotelnicki and is excited to start working together.

“Yeah, I really like Coach K a lot,” Drew Allar said. “I think he’s done a great job of getting to know a lot of the guys on the offense these past two weeks since he’s stepped foot on campus. I’m excited to work with him in the future. He’s gonna be a little involved in this bowl prep, but I’m excited to get working with him in the future and just learn everything that I can under him because he seems like a really good coach.”

Prior to coming to Penn State, Andy Kotelnicki was the long-time offensive coordinator under Lance Leipold. The two worked together at Kansas, Buffalo, and Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“He had a lot of success at multiple different stops that he’s had in his past with offense being very explosive,” Allar said. “So, I’m definitely excited.”

One of the biggest tasks for Any Kotelnicki is going to be getting the most he can out of Drew Allar. A five-star recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, Allar played well in 2023 but came up short in big spots. Getting over that hump in 2024 would go a long way to helping Penn State as a whole get over the hump in the Big Ten.

James Franklin shares how much Andy Kotelnicki’s success excites him

There are a lot of reasons why James Franklin hired Andy Kotelnicki, including the long history of success he’d had alongside Lance Leipold.

“A couple of things, when I say that, he had been with the same head coach for 11 years. Ton of respect for him, friend of his, friend of mine. So, when I talk about tough to leave, that’s kind of what I’m talking about. Tremendous amount of stability, and obviously to your point, that’s what excited. You look at the head coach and the offensive coordinator, there hadn’t really been that type of success and productivity in a place like Buffalo. They go to Kansas, there really hadn’t been that type of success and productivity at a place like Kansas before. So, that was a big reason for me being attracted to him in the first place and then also coming up under a guy that I have a ton of respect for within the profession,” Franklin said.

“But, yeah, I think that’s really kind of what got this ball rolling is what you described with the success and the points and the yardage and game control that they were able to have at Kansas and was a big part of their success.”