Drew Allar sounds off on Penn State QB battle, evaluates Spring Game performance

With spring practice in the books, Drew Allar will continue to make his case to be the starting quarterback at Penn State. He appeared in 10 games last year and is competing with Beau Pribula to replace Sean Clifford as the starter.

He got his first chance to perform in front of a crowd Saturday in the Nittany Lions’ Blue and White spring game. Afterward, he spoke with Big Ten Network’s Matt McGloin to talk about how things went and what’s next in the quarterback battle.

It sounds like the competition has had a positive effect on the two frontrunners.

“I think it’s been great as a whole room as a whole,” Allar said. “The whole quarterback room is really competitive. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It makes us better each day. We’re learning from each other — what we do well, what we could have fixed. I think we’re doing a really good job of helping each other out when we need it, too. It’s been really good so far.”

Drew Allar on spring practice: ‘I think as an offense as a whole, we came a long way’

Allar also talked about how things have gone throughout the spring as he tries to build off his solid freshman season. He addressed how far the entire offense has come since the beginning of camp as the Nittany Lions look to build off last season.

“I think as an offense as whole, we came a long way,” Allar said. “Obviously, every spring ball, you’re going to turn the page from last year. I think we did a really good job of building off of what we had last year, but also added some new things in that will really complement our offense. Overall, as an offense, I think we had a really strong spring.”

But even though he had a strong spring, Allar isn’t satisfied. He made it clear he wants to keep getting better in the lead-up to fall camp — and that starts with collaborating with other skill position groups.

“First and foremost, everything,” Allar said of what he wants to improve. “Because you can never be too good or too prepared for anything. But I would say just getting with the receivers, tight ends and running backs, really nailing down the fundamentals of our pass scheme because really, we can take the pass scheme as far as we want to go but we really have to put the work in for that to happen.

“It’s going to be a long summer but it’s going to be a really fun summer just grinding with those guys.”