It’s hard to imagine a worse season for Penn State QB Drew Allar and the Nittany Lions’ program. Not only did Penn State lose its third-straight game, upset by Northwestern 22-21 in Happy Valley, the program lost Allar for the season.
Allar injured his left knee late in the game on a rushing attempt up the middle. Two Wildcats defenders collided into Allar, who immediately went to the ground in pain. Limping and carted off, head coach James Franklin confirmed post-game that Allar would miss the rest of the 2025 season.
“Drew will be done for the year,” he said via The Daily Collegian’s Will Horstman.
The exact diagnosis of Allar’s injury wasn’t immediately made known. Here’s the play Allar was injured on.
Viewed as a potential first round pick before last year and entering this season, Allar’s stock could now be in free fall. Poor play that began during last year’s bowl game stretched into the 2025 season. Without star TE Tyler Warren, his top target a year ago, Allar struggled to move the offense. Erratic decisions and careless errors outweighed his physical talent.
In a home loss to top-ranked Oregon, Allar threw for just 137 yards with two touchdowns and one interception as Penn State mustered only a field goal through three quarters. A late rally that sent the game to double overtime ended when Allar was intercepted by a Ducks’ linebacker.
Before exiting against Northwestern, Allar completed 13-of-20 passes for 137 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. His pick came in the end zone, a costly turnover that took points off the board in what became a 22-21 loss.
Allar is more proof of how much the quarterback prospect landscape can change during a season. Allar entered the year alongside the likes of Clemson’s Cade Klubnik and Texas’ Arch Manning as potentially the 2026 draft’s top targets. Klubnik and Manning struggled early in the season though both have found traction since; still, Manning could stay in school at least another year and not declare until 2027.
New faces have emerged. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza helped lead the Hoosiers to an upset win over Oregon today while Alabama’s Ty Simpson has vaulted himself into the first-round conversation, knocking off Missouri today.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to heavily scout 2026’s top quarterbacks prospects in the hopes of finding their future franchise quarterback. The Steelers have started a different Week 1 starter in each of the past five years, a franchise first.
Allar’s future is unclear. But his stock has bottomed out from its peak. When Pittsburgh hits the prospect trail beginning in January, Allar won’t he high priority.
Recommended for you