How Penn State's Offense Ran Drew Allar Fully Off Track

Drew Allar was the highest-ranked quarterback recruit of James Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, a 5-star prospect in the 2022 class who at one point was the nation’s No. 1 high school quarterback. 

However, Allar didn’t reach his potential with the Nittany Lions, especially in the most important games. Allar finished his Penn State tenure with a 1-6 record against AP top-10 opponents, completing just 50.3 percent of his passes in those games, according to ESPN. 

So, what went wrong for Allar at Penn State? The Pittsburgh Steelers have a theory, and they’re trying to fix it. A recent ESPN article by Brooke Pryor reported that the Steelers have “essentially uninstalled” everything Allar learned at Penn State mechanically, beginning to “rebuild his fundamentals from the ground up.” 

It’s an unintentional yet clear indictment of how former Penn State coach James Franklin, offensive coordinators Mike Yurcich and Andy Kotelnicki and quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien developed Allar. One trait the Steelers are working on specifically with Allar is footwork, which the quarterback and head coach Mike McCarthy brought up several times during Pittsburgh’s recent rookie minicamp.

“Just playing with a little wider base and keeping my feet in the ground as much as I can and not getting on my toes as much,” Allar told ESPN. “It’s just really fundamental things that I just have to be aware of now and be conscious of. And in the drill work, obviously I want to be as accurate as I can in the drill work, but really just focusing on the footwork and getting that mental repetition down so I can feel that and then carry that over into team when it’s a competing session.”

Remaking Drew Allar

But why now, after Allar spent four seasons at Penn State in an offense that asked him to do a lot from a footwork standpoint? During Steelers rookie minicamp, Allar received “undivided attention” from quarterbacks coach Tom Arth and “significant instruction” from McCarthy.

“It gives you the ability to play faster," McCarthy said about having good footwork. "It gives you the ability to transition in and out of the challenges that occur throughout quarterback play. We're teaching him different than the way he's played before. He hasn't spent a lot of time under center. He's a run-and-shoot guy in high school. He's played from nine yards deep. So there's just a lot of newness to him, but it's just like anything.”

A third-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2026 NFL Draft, Allar was a three-year starter at Penn State, though his college career ended due to injury midway through his senior year. 

Allar finished his Nittany Lions tenure with the fourth-most passing yards (7,402) in program history, the top completion percentage among quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts (63.2 percent, the third-most passing touchdowns (61) and the lowest interceptions percentage with a minimum of 50 attempts (1.3 percent).

Despite meeting those neat benchmarks, Allar evidently didn’t develop completely. And the concerns were well known. In his comprehensive NFL Draft guide for The Athletic, Dane Brugler assessed Allar as having “inconsistent rhythm between feet, eyes and arm” and “messy footwork” that impedes his accuracy.

Though he didn’t reference footwork, Penn State associate head coach Terry Smith said that Allar would be a better NFL quarterback because the Nittany Lions’ offensive system “wasn’t built for him.”

"He’s a pro-style quarterback," Smith said in a radio interview after the draft. "He’s not built for running, but he can run when necessary. And so when you have designated, called runs, that’s not him.”

That was clear watching Allar at Penn State. Under former offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, the Nittany Lions’ system appeared to want a mobile quarterback. That’s not Allar. He’s a gunslinger, who has unique abilities to stretch the defense and make plays downfield. 

"He's a guy that can make every throw,” Smith said. “He’s super smart, he’s a fast learner, he picks things up really quickly. I just think, with the right coaching, the right direction, obviously in the best scenario you want a guy like Aaron Rodgers to come back and really teach a guy like this how to be a pro and be a pro’s pro, much like Aaron Rodgers learned from Brett Favre. So that’s an ideal situation. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen. But I think Drew has all the physical attributes and mental makeup to really be a good pro."

Staying on his new track

Allar is very talented, but the Penn State offensive coaching staff wasn’t the right fit to tap into a lot of his potential. And it’s not like Franklin had a great track record developing NFL quarterbacks. Though all four of his Penn State starters were drafted, none has started an NFL game. Allar needs work to be the first.

Inconsistent footwork has led to some game-changing plays in Allar’s Penn State tenure. Consider the interception he threw against Notre Dame in the 2025 Orange Bowl. Instead of trying to move around a rusher and stepping into his throw, Allar threw the ball while leaning on his back foot. 

Part of the mistake in that play — and in plenty others during his time at Penn State — was his being antsy. Allar was on his toes for the most part and never seemed calm and composed in the pocket. The Steelers invested a third-round pick on Allar to fix what Penn State couldn’t. 

“Anytime you can talk to coach McCarthy one-on-one, especially when it's about quarterback play and fundamentals, [is great],” Allar said in Pittsburgh after rookie minicamp. “I feel like I've grown a lot and really just understand his philosophy a lot more. I know what I need to work on and how to work on it, and I've just got to be intentional with doing the same routine every day and making sure I'm staying on top of the little things.”

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