Breaking down where Drew Allar needs to excel in Andy Kotelnicki’s offense

Penn State‘s College Football Playoff hopes rely heavily on the play of quarterback Drew Allar ahead of his second season as the Nittany Lions’ starter. Allar is being tasked with learning a new offensive scheme and being the driving force of the Penn State offense this year.

The junior from Medina, Ohio has the tools to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country, as Blue White Illustrated‘s Sean Fitz detailed where he’s grown and what he’ll need to do in order to take Penn State to new heights.

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“Trimmed down a little bit, little bit more agility there which I think is going to be important, because I think they’re going to run the ball and I think they’re going to rely on the quarterback a little bit more than they did in his first year. That really undercut them last season, there was no threat for running quarterback,” Fitz said at the On3 Roundtable.

“You don’t necessarily need him to be Tommie Frazier, you need him to do a little bit, and move the sticks once in a while, and open things up for Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. I think they’re going to run the ball a lot.”

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Allar ran for 210 yards and four touchdowns on the ground last season, production that may increase this upcoming season with Andy Kotelnicki now calling the plays for Penn State’s offense. Kotelnicki is an offensive coordinator who has had the quarterback running game play a factor in his offenses historically.

But Fitz believes that a more mobile Allar will help Penn State’s offense in more than one way.

“This offensive line is sort of rebuilt, they had three draft picks that went in the spring. But you’ve got an opportunity to try and run the ball with some talented runners. Got the tight ends back once again that can certainly contribute there,” Fitz explained. “So I think everybody sort of pulling the rope for Drew is going to be something that helps him.

“He’s got talent, he can make those throws, it’s a matter of keeping that pressure off of him. Last year when he was under pressure, especially in those big games the Ohio State and Michigan [games] specifically, he kind of faltered. So I think that that’s the big thing to look at this year is how does he stand up against those top teams on the schedule, and how does he react against against the pressure that’s inevitably coming?”

Last season Allar was sacked just 15 times behind a stout offensive line that will not look the same this upcoming season and will be tested on the road versus West Virginia to start the season. But overcoming pressure is just one of the areas that he can show improvement in that would take Penn State to another level.

“That 25 to 2 touchdown-interception ratio last year for Drew a bit misleading. He did a lot of his work against teams that he should be able to do that against, and then you get to the big games, and that’s not the stat line that you see. Hopefully from a Penn State fan perspective they open it up, take a little bit more chances,” Fitz said.

“He seemed like going into those big games they were so terrified to make a turnover, or to put themselves with their backs against the wall for the defense that it stunted the growth offensively from top to bottom. And I think that if they can get over that hump, obviously, it makes a very big difference.”