James Franklin has been joking since Drew Allar’s freshman year, calling him “Lamar Allar” after Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson — one of the best dual-threat signal callers in the NFL. The nickname hasn’t quite held its weight — until now.
The junior quarterback long has been heralded for his arm talent, but he’s already shown more flashes of making plays with his legs through two games in 2024. Allar ran six times in the season opener at West Virginia for 44 yards. He picked up multiple important first downs in the process and showed some emotion with emphatic celebrations.
“Obviously mobility at the quarterback position is important, but if your quarterback can get you just two to three first downs a game with his legs, it changes everything,” Franklin said after the West Virginia win. “I thought that showed up today.”
Allar’s most rushing yards in 2023 came in Game 12 against Michigan State. He went for 49 yards, the only time he crossed the 40-yard threshold in his career before the trip to Morgantown. He didn’t have to run much against Bowling Green, but his development hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“I definitely feel faster. I think that just comes from training with Coach (Chuck) Losey in the offseason and the whole strength staff,” Allar said in Morgantown. “Obviously, I think (it’s) the best strength staff in the country.”
Losey, Penn State’s strength coach, labeled Allar a “foundational strength” guy who was a bit behind in terms of general strength when he arrived in 2022. That’s not the case anymore.
“His foundational strength has really gotten up to speed throughout his career,” Losey said Wednesday. “Any time you pair that with body composition, a player’s ability to get rid of the excess body weight and build muscle mass, their ability to create force in the ground — the combination of those two things — is just going to increase.”
Allar has dropped between seven and 11 pounds, he said. The official Penn State roster lists Allar at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds. Allar wants to stay at that weight.
“Drew just needed a little bit of time, and sometimes the timing takes a little bit longer for some than others. He had a really good cycle in the spring. He had a really good cycle in the summer,” Losey said. “We knew his movement has always been, I don’t want to say a deficit of his, but it was an area that we knew we could exponentially improve.”
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Allar ran for 206 yards in his first year as a starter, averaging 15.8 yards per game. Franklin said he felt Allar ran better in 2023 than most would have expected, and there’s been another step since then.
The staff doesn’t need Allar to be a true dual threat when he’s out there — he just has to do enough to keep a defense honest.
“Consistency is the biggest thing with our guys, regardless of what our goal is. And Drew is one of the more consistent guys in the program across the board. I’m happy that it’s paying off for him, and he’s able to showcase it this year so far.”