Random thoughts with Drew Allar

Penn State's now-veteran quarterback on "arm talent,'' stats that matter, thriving without Tyler Warren and living with massive expectations

Logan Gehman Whitespot Photography

Last month I did a long interview with Drew Allar for a piece that will appear in Town and Gown magazine’s football annual.

Most of the best stuff from the interview - including an honest breakdown of the key late interceptions Allar threw in the Oregon and Notre Dame games - is of course in the magazine piece, which should be on newsstands any day now.

Here’s some interesting stuff that didn’t make it.

On the evolution of his throwing mechanics:

DA: When I started training with Brad¹, I was of the very old-school approach, basically throwing it like a pitcher, which caused a lot of inaccuracies. If you released it just a tad early, you were going to sail it. If you held on it to a little too long, it was low.

I knew I had a strong arm, but I thought I could get more out of it. One of my favorite quarterbacks, just to sit back and watch throw a football, is Aaron Rodgers. I think he has the best release, in terms of being a pure passer, in pro football history. Brad sold me, like with a couple Aaron Rodgers videos, and explaining what he does with quarterbacks.

It was definitely like rewiring the brain. I grew up playing baseball, and I wanted to throw a football that way. The first six months I was with Brad, (I learned to) load in your hips and in your glutes and hamstrings, and then allow your lower body just to propel your upper body. And it takes a lot of stress off the arm, and it makes your ball accurate and crisp.