Penn State head football coach James Franklin sends encouraging message on QB Drew Allar, Nittany Lions teammates
Penn State football’s locker room is still not over that game-defining, and season-ending, interception by QB Drew Allar in the College Football Playoff semifinals against Notre Dame. After all, they lost their shot at the national championship.
Head coach James Franklin, however, isn’t letting Allar or other players sit and brood. Instead, the Nittany Lions coaching staff is encouraging the players to learn as an upside to it.
“I think this experience this year will be helpful, very similar to what you’ve seen with other programs,” Franklin said in his winter press conference.
“We understand what it’s like. You have a plan, you have a routine, you kind of go back and do an after-action review about how things went as a program. The players do that as well and then you attack it. But the most important thing is that we use every experience we have, both positive and negative, to get better and grow. That’s what I see all of our guys doing, including Drew.
“I mean, obviously, you know when the season ends the way it does, you know, everybody’s disappointed, and there’s typically nobody more disappointed than the players themselves and the coaches because of how much time and effort you put into it.
“There’s only one program in college football that’s happy at the end of the season at this level and, obviously, the most important thing for all of us is that we learn from it and grow from it, and that’s what we’re all doing.”
From appearances, Allar’s decision to return for another season is his way of redemption for that interception. Even though several mock drafts gauged him as a first-round prospect, Allar chose to stay back.
Franklin’s optimistic verdict of the QB entering the offseason adds more credibility to his decision which will come back to help him in the 2026 NFL draft.
Undoubtedly only his performance, and fewer interceptions, could solidify him as one of the top QBs off the board in next year’s draft, though
