Inside the Transformation of Penn State's Drew Allar
Drew Allar began his transformation from gangly teen to alpha quarterback in front of a mirror during the COVID lockdown of 2020. Separated from his new trainer and unable to throw with receivers, Allar put down the football and picked up a towel. He wrapped it around the middle fingers of his right hand to create some weight and practiced his throwing motion in front of that mirror, grooving an arm path from different angles. Allar did this twice daily for 10 concentrated minutes, sending session videos to his private coach.
Brad Maendler called these "towel drills," and they represented the start of what Penn State coach James Franklin termed Allar's "crazy" transformation. Not just in his frame, arm strength or mechanics, but also in his shift into complete-picture quarterback who thinks sequentially and spatially, catalogs thousands of images of what open receivers look like and processes them as defenders try to plant him. Allar was 15 then, starting this transformation at home in Medina, Ohio, less than two hours from Ohio State, where he'll lead the Nittany Lions on Saturday.
"I've never seen a transformation like it," Franklin said. "To be honest with you, I didn't even really believe in it. ... Brad's ability with Drew's commitment and work ethic, his transformation was crazy. That just continued. He just kept getting better."
Here's how Penn State's quarterback began his transformation.
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, an Ohio native, leads the Nittany Lions against No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus this weekend.
Dan Rainville/USA Today Sports
'He was incredibly open to change'
Maendler, an Ohio-based quarterbacks coach who owns QBExcelerate, began working with Allar in January 2020, during Allar's sophomore year at Medina High. Allar (now 6-5, 242 pounds) went through a growth burst by stretching machine as a freshman, becoming long and wiry. He had the raw tools, particularly arm strength, but also threw like a pitcher striding off the mound. Which works in baseball, but not as much for quarterbacks in tight spaces.
"It was like Marmaduke trying to get control over this big body," Maendler said. "It was a challenging first month. There's a whole, take a step back to take two steps forward kind of thing with this. Whenever you're making mechanical changes, you've got to expect that. And that's why I think he is so special, because right away, he came to work. He was incredibly open to change. And he had the toughness and grit to kind of just work through this process and not get down because it wasn't happening as fast."
Maendler and Allar made incremental progress before COVID halted their in-person training for two months. That could have derailed the process. Instead, Allar seemed energized. He worked through Maendler's towel drills daily. He threw alone in the driveway and on basketball courts. He threw passes to his father, Kevin. When Maendler and Allar finally reconvened in May, the coach noticed a demonstrable change.
They threw on a field whose long, uncut grass was damp. Everyone was rusty after two months on the sideline. Yet Allar "looked really good," Maendler said. During lockdown he had cleared some of his youth-related mechanical issues, emerging with more power and more consistent ball placement. Before, Allar often threw footballs with the nose pointed downward. In May, that football's nose was flat.
"It looked effortless, and that was one of the first things that [Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich] told me that he liked," Maendler said. "The first conversation I had with Mike, when he was at Texas [as the offensive coordinator in 2020], he said, "Man, I love the way he generates power in such an effortless way.'"
After that, everyone noticed.
'This is not a capricious kid'
Allar committed to Penn State in March 2021, between his junior and senior seasons at Medina High, when he was a prominent but not-yet top-of-the-class quarterback recruit. His conversations with Penn State began when Yurcich became the program's offensive coordinator. After he committed, Allar politely but firmly closed the recruiting door, though others tried to keep it open.
Allar threw in a wide-open offense at Medina. He attempted an astonishing 511 passes in 14 games as a senior, throwing for 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns. Even as his profile rose, and he became 247Sports' No. 1 quarterback of the 2022 recruiting class, Allar and his parents told Franklin when other schools (including Ohio State in September 2021) called. Then they reassured Franklin of their commitment.
"He didn’t really get caught up in nonsense," Franklin said. "Once he decided this is where he wanted to come, there was no drama after that."
"I just think that's who he is," Maendler added. "You know, he's very thoughtful and intentional about how he trains, how he prepares his body, what he eats. This is not a capricious kid."
'His grasp and command of that playbook is special'
Allar certainly has not been capricious as Penn State's starter. He is the nation's only quarterback with more than 110 passing attempts and no interceptions. Allar hasn't been intercepted in 241 college throws, including 181 this season. He is the only Big Ten quarterback since 2000 to begin a season with at least 180 passing attempts and no interceptions. Franklin marveled at the quarterback's willingness to make the checkdown throw ("Who's throwing checkdowns in their backyard, right?") over making a hero pass into tight coverage. This, too, is a product of his off-field discipline and work ethic.
During Penn State's season-opener against West Virginia, Maendler watched Allar weave up the pocket, keep his eyes downfield and throw across his body to KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Even before Allar got to Penn State, he and Maendler had worked on that throw hundreds of times. The 72-yard touchdown remains the Lions' longest offensive play of the season.
Allar watches not only Penn State and opponents' film but also hours of NFL footage with offensive assistant Danny O'Brien. On Monday of Penn State's bye week, Allar and his fellow quarterbacks gathered with the receivers for something different. They watched footage of their 1-on-1 drills from the previous week, sharing best practices on routes and throws. Through all this, Maendler said Allar has stored and cataloged a "library of images" that he references constantly.
"His grasp and command of that playbook is special," Maendler said. "And that's not me saying it. That's what I've heard from coaches there, because he's got this tremendous ability to retain information and remember it. He's truly an elephant, just has this crazy memory. So he knows the progressions, and then through film study and practice, he's got this mental image of what open means, right? And so that could mean the angle of a linebacker's hips [determines] whether or not something is going to be open. So what you have to be able to do is see that in a snapshot in time and make a very quick, decisive decision. That's what he's really good at."
This game could be personal or Allar. He grew up going to Ohio State games and will play there for the first time in another uniform. Franklin hadn't planned to bring that up, but others changed his mind for him. "This is my third interview today, and everybody obviously is talking to him like that," Franklin said Tuesday, "so I am going to talk to him."
Maendler foresees no issues there. Remember the library of images Allar has collected? Maendler said that one of Allar's "superpowers" is being able to clarify all of it without getting overwhelmed. He's clinical while being passionate, two traits that his coaches believe will serve him well Saturday.
"We talk about humble and hungry," Franklin said, "and I think he's that."
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