Penn State’s offensive outlook right now: ‘We can’t throw enough’

Last year, Penn State’s running backs shined during the Nittany Lions’ 11-2 campaign, which concluded with a Rose Bowl victory on January 2nd. Now, heading into the Drew Allar era, James Franklin is making a few offensive adjustments to meet his team’s strengths. Following Penn State’s Blue/White game, Coach Franklin emphasized multiple times that Penn State football cannot throw the ball enough times this year. In year one of the Drew Allar era, we could see the Penn State passing game take a massive leap forward.

Penn State football looking to throw the ball more in 2023

Sean Clifford was a good quarterback during his four years as a starter in the Blue in White. Not excellent, not terrible, just good. He never held Penn State football back, though he never excelled enough to propel the Nittany Lions through their glass ceiling; in other words, Clifford was as good as the team around him, never better, never worse. Now, in 2023, fans are hoping that rising sophomore sensation Drew Allar can be the one that finally carries the Penn State passing game to prominence and help lead the Lions back to the promised land.

Despite a slow start in Saturday’s spring game, Allar eventually settled in and made great plays with his legs and arm. There is clearly still some work to do — he looked rough at times — though Allar most definitely has the talent and is capable of doing great things in Happy Valley. Behind Allar is fellow rising sophomore Beau Pribula, a highly-touted recruit who brings a separate skillet to the table for Penn State with his speed and agility. I suspect Penn State will use both quarterbacks this fall, though Drew Allar will most likely get the starting nod in Week 1 against West Virginia.

Regardless of who starts at quarterback, head coach James Franklin emphasizes that the Penn State passing game is a focal point in his offense this year and that Penn State football cannot throw the ball enough with its two talented quarterbacks.

Nittany Lions’ air attack looking to take the next step with Drew Allar at quarterback

Following the Blue/White game on Saturday, James Franklin expressed to the media that Penn State football is looking to throw the football a lot during summer and perhaps the fall as well.

“We can’t throw enough,” James Franklin said. “Our quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, we cannot throw enough all summer … I think having Holuba open all summer to throw is going to be valuable for us.”

Following his emphasis on the Penn State passing game, Franklin also commented on the incredible physical ability of sophomore quarterback Drew Allar, though he emphasized that chemistry needs to be built in the passing game.

“That’s what I was talking about earlier when I said ‘we can’t throw enough.’ We need more wideouts to compete at a high level … we need six guys that we feel like we can win the Big Ten with,” Franklin said. “[We] just can’t throw enough to build that consistency and that chemistry — in a lot of ways like Sean [Clifford] and Jahan [Dotson] had a couple of years ago. They gotta build that chemistry, but they gotta build it with multiple guys. Between our tight ends and our receivers, we can be pretty effective.”

Throughout the remainder of Penn State’s offseason, the Nittany Lions will be throwing the ball quite a bit as they prepare for year one of a new era in State College: the Drew Allar era.

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