James Franklin downplays hype about Drew Allar in 2023

The hype surrounding Penn State heading into the 2023 football season seems higher than it’s been in quite some time in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions bring back a slew of young talent, and the expectations for first-year starting quarterback Drew Allar seem to grow week after week during the offseason.

Former Penn State tight end Adam Breneman sat down with Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin on a recent episode of ‘Next Up with Adam Breneman’ and asked him about the expectations that surround not only his new starting quarterback, but his team as a whole with the season right around the corner.

“I think outside of the Lasch Building I try not to answer those questions. People are asking and I really just try to downplay it as much as possible, but inside the building, as you know as a former player, we don’t really talk about those things,” Franklin said. “It’s like are we working the way we need to work? Are we preparing the way we need to prepare to do the things we want to do starting with West Virginia? Nothing else matters. If we’re doing those things, the games take care of themselves.”

Franklin led the Nittany Lions to an impressive 11-2 season last year, the fourth 11-win season of his career during his time with Penn State. And while he attempts to keep his team’s focus on their opening game of the season and preparing properly, he does understand the reasoning and importance behind a certain level of preseason recognition.

“Does it help if you start higher with where your rankings are? Yes, because if you’re outside of the top 25, TCU was able to do it but that’s hard to do. So I think the excitement is great and there’s a reason for that right?” Franklin asked. “We got a ton of really good players returning, we were able to end the season with a really good win on the road essentially at the Rose Bowl against a really good Utah team, I got a ton of respect for Coach Whittingham and what he’s been able to do there. So there’s a lot of momentum coming into the season, and then we had so many young players that played well.”

Penn State has essentially locked itself into a spot in the top 25 rankings ahead of the 2023 season, but what isn’t yet a lock is how its new quarterback will perform as a starter.

Drew Allar impressed in his limited snaps as a freshman last season for the Nittany Lions and as a high school prospect, leading many to believe that he could be the one to potentially take Penn State to new heights.

Allar was a five-star prospect out of Medina, Ohio, ranked the No. 3 overall quarterback in the 2022 class according to On3’s Industry Ranking. In his 10-game appearances last year as a true freshman, he completed 35 of his 60 pass attempts for 344 yards and four touchdowns, and based on what Franklin has seen, he likes what he sees.

“Drew gets in games last year, and you can do all the drills you want, but the thing that he showed is poise. He looked so comfortable when he was in there, and I’m talking like Purdue game one on the road in the Big Ten. So there’s reasons for it and I get it, but we just try to control the things that we control, which is how we’re working, how we’re preparing, how we’re building our chemistry as a team. And then go out and hopefully prove people right and prove some people wrong,” Franklin said.

Only time will tell if Allar can elevate the Nittany Lions’ talented roster back to the Big Ten Championship stage, a place they haven’t appeared since 2016. And that clock begins on September 2 when West Virginia visits Penn State in their season opener at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.