Drew Allar makes Penn State debut at Purdue after Sean Clifford misses a series before returning
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar made his Nittany Lions debut on Thursday night at Purdue. The freshman signal-caller, who was just named the back-up on Monday, had to take over with Sean Clifford sidelined after halftime.
It’s unclear why the veteran Penn State quarterback was off the field as of the middle of the third quarter. He came out of the locker room after halftime. But, just before kickoff of the third quarter, he and a medical staff member jogged toward the locker room.
Allar was two of four for 26 yards on his first series. After handing off on his first college play, he hit KeAndre Lambert-Smith next on a screen. Later, he would find Mitchell Tinsley for 15 yards. But, he was then the victim of a Tyler Warren drop and misfired on a third down pass to Tinsley.
In the first half, Clifford was eight of 15 for 141 yards and two touchdowns. He saw a few passes dropped. Otherwise, No. 14 played fine. But, he was hit low on his right knee by Purdue’s Lawrence Johnson. That drew a roughing the passer penalty. However, Clifford finished the half and appeared to be fine.
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Clifford then returned for the second Penn State drive of the second half.
Why is Drew Allar the Penn State backup?
Here’s what Penn State head coach James Franklin had to say on Monday, when he announced the news:
“Because when we take all of the all of the information, coaches’ opinion based on their gut and experience, data from everything that we keep track of, we feel like Drew has earned that opportunity in week one,” Franklin said. “But again, I think we all remember last year as well. Veilleux, he was the third-string quarterback last year and ended up being a second-team quarterback and came in and did a great job for us.
“But taking everything into consideration, the coaching staff felt like this was the right decision. Obviously, they’re tough conversations to have. We sat down with everybody and did it with each one of the quarterbacks. Met with them one on one and communicated how and why.”
Allar beat out last year’s backup, Christian Veilleux, for the No. 2 job, as well as classmate Beau Pribula.
