Penn State football reveals plan for ‘NFL-like’ QB room in 2024

It’s been a headline-packed few days for Penn State football. From bowl prep to coaching searches to transfer portal commitments, plenty is happening around Happy Valley this week. But one of the more interesting tidbits to come out of Peach Bowl media day won’t be visible until next fall. On Friday, new Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki discussed plans for shared responsibility between himself, James Franklin, and Danny O’Brien for coaching Drew Allar and the other Nittany Lions QBs in an “NFL-like” position room.

“NFL-like” QB room in store for Penn State football

While the hire of Andy Kotelnicki by James Franklin has been highly praised, one of the outstanding questions in the weeks since the announcement has been about the future of the QB room. Kotelnicki has coached nearly every position on offense. But he isn’t a QB coach by trade, leading to speculation as to who would coach Drew Allar and the other QBs in 2024.

The answer: a lot of people. During his introductory press conference on Friday, Kotelnicki revealed that QB-coaching duties will be shared three ways between himself, James Franklin, and GA Danny O’Brien. The setup is similar to that of many NFL locker rooms.

“There’s going to be three of us that are working QBs: Myself, Coach Franklin, and Danny O’Brien,” Kotelnicki expressed. “And I know Danny, who I’ve interacted with, has been there for the last couple of weeks and does a fantastic job. You have a chance for a guy who’s played professional football, the QB position, to interact with the QBs. I think that’s a huge deal.”

“And then Coach Franklin, being an offensive guy, to be involved, and then myself, I’ve coached QBs in the past and have been able to see the whole big picture with them,” he continued. “So, it’ll be very NFL-like in terms of how we interact with those guys.”

Drew Allar shares first impression of Andy Kotelnicki

Although Andy Kotelnicki won’t officially take over control of the offense until after the Peach Bowl, he’s already spending plenty of time meeting with his new players. On Friday, Drew Allar shared his initial thoughts from his first meetings with the new Penn State offensive coordinator.

“I think he brings an element to our offense where he’s just going to be able to relate to everybody,” Allar said, in part. “And I think he’s been doing that the last two weeks. [He’s been] setting up meetings just to get to know guys on more of a personal level, which I think is big for him.”

“High capacity guy,” Kotelnicki later said of Drew Allar. “Wants to sit in the meetings. Wants to be involved with game planning. Wants to know the why of things. He’s the kind of guy who is a coach on the field, and you can give plenty of responsibilities to make sure you’re in the right play. So my initial impressions of him are very, very impressive from the kind of things that you want from a QB.”

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