Drew Allar recalls James Franklin's reaction when he committed

Typically when recruiting a five-star quarterback such as Penn State’s Drew Allar, there is a lot of back-and-forth and bidding with other schools to convince them to play for your institution. But the recruitment of Allar was rather seamless for the Nittany Lions. And thanks to Penn State’s fast-acting recruiting style, they were able to get the Ohio native to commit rather quickly, swiping him from Ohio State in the process. During a recent interview on Next Up with Adam Breneman, Allar recalled how his recruitment process with Penn State transpired and the reaction of head coach James Franklin when he heard the news.

“So I committed; it was like a silent commit. I committed a week before I actually announced it,” said Allar. “And I remember I was on FaceTime with Coach Yurcich and Coach Franklin at the same time. I told him, and he was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? Because we want you, but we have to make sure you’re all set, and you’re gonna stay committed to us. So if you need any time just to think it through, make sure this is the place for you.’ And I was like, ‘No, I know this is the place for me.'”

While getting Allar to commit to Penn State was easy, both sides had to deal with difficulties within the recruiting process. Allar’s high school junior to senior summer was in 2020, smack-dab in the middle of the COVID outbreak. That made his trip to visit the campus in person nearly impossible, but he found a way to get it done.

“I actually visited on my own because COVID was shut down. There was no junior-day visit. So I visited up here on my own with my family one weekend. I was like, I could see myself going to school here (and) playing football here. And probably three days after I visited, I called them and told them I wanted to commit, and they were really excited. But they just wanted to make sure I was going to stay true with them.

“I was grateful for that, just to make sure. Like they wanted what (was) best for me, even if it wasn’t Penn State. At the time, they really wanted what the best interest was for me.”

Allar has a strong appreciation for how the Penn State coaching staff, led by Franklin, handled his recruiting process. And the Nittany Lions had an appreciation for Allar’s level of commitment and dedication to the team early in his recruitment. Now the two are set to work together in 2023 and possibly 2024, with the goal of bringing the Big Ten title and possibly a national championship to Happy Valley.