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Joel Klatt has no hesitation about Penn State being better than last year after Drew Allar performance

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•09/06/23
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Quarterback Drew Allar. (Credit: Frank Hyatt | Blue White Illustrated)

In the first start of his career, Drew Allar showed Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt why he gives Penn State a higher ceiling than they had last year.

No disrespect to former PSU QB Sean Clifford, but Klatt believes the new guy Allar showcased this weekend why he can take the Nittany Lions to greater heights. On an episode of the Joel Klatt Show this week, he showered Allar and the 2023 Penn State team with love.

“Let me start with Penn State: Drew Allar looks really good. He looked comfortable,” said Klatt of the new QB1 in State College. And that wasn’t the only part of the team that impressed him.

“I really loved what I saw from Penn State,” added Klatt. “They’re fast, they’re athletic, really kind of what I expected to see out of them.”

With Allar under center, Klatt sees a path for Penn State to truly compete with the big dogs in the conference this year.

“I thought Drew Allar would would improve their team, all due respect to Sean Clifford. And I think he has. I think that this team is better than the 11-2 Rose Bowl champion team from a year ago. I believe that they will compete more in a more prominent way against Michigan and Ohio State this year in that Big Ten East.”

This was an opinion Klatt had in the preseason — and after just one game, he feels great about that take.

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“I have zero hesitation after that first start. I’m like ‘okay, yep, that’s what I expected to see.’ I like Drew Allar a lot. I think he’s going to continue to get better and he’s already really good. That one was easy. He was terrific.”

The Fox Sports pundit is quite bullish on Drew Allar despite having just one start under his belt. But as Klatt discussed, that one performance was a glimpse into how talented Allar really is.

Just look at his first touchdown pass. First and 10 from Penn State’s own 28 yard line, Allar take the snap, fakes a handoff, drops back about 10 yards, sees the pass rush closing in and moves up in the pocket and fires a pass on the run roughly 40 yards down the field to hit KeAndre Lambert-Smith, who breaks past his defender to waltz into the end zone.

That pass is all you need to see to know that Penn State has a real weapon at quarterback. It was all Joel Klatt needed to see too. Take a look: