Former Penn State QB Todd Blackledge on Drew Allar: ‘He had a Really Positive Year’ 7/25/24 | NSN

right so last summer uh a big talk around Penn State uh at media days was what would Drew Aller look like as a certain quarterback now he has 1 starts under his belt uh you called the first one against West Virginia what were your observations of his first full season as starter yeah well I think more good than bad you know I mean really not a lot of bad um because you can't put it all on him but in the games they lost to Michigan Ohio State just not enough explosive plays off defensively so part of that is the quarterback part of it's on the wide outs you know people getting open um but I thought all in all he had a really positive year because he did the first thing that a quarterback has to do uh and that's take care of the football he did a great job of that not throwing it to the wrong team you know and so he was very efficient in that way and I think the next step for him in his development is you know to make more plays down the field you know and and having confidence to maybe take some chances and throw the ball down there even if guys are covered and trust that your guys can come up with plays so I think it's pretty much universally agreed that the next step for him is to play at his best or at least close to his best when the lights are the brightest in those big games but that's obviously easier send than done what are the keys to him being the guy that you saw against West Virginia against Ohio State yeah well I think the key is to treat it the same way you know don't make the game any bigger than it is I mean everybody knows those games are marquee games but as a competitor you know and as a quarterback those are the games you want to be in you know and and I think that um you know but but still try to treat it the same way don't change your preparation don't change any of your routines and then just try to play loose and play Confident you know and and typically in games like that if you have some good things happen early in the ball game you kind of feed off of that and consequently if you have some rough things happen early in the game it can kind of snowballing you that way too so play loose play Confident don't treat it any different than any other game and try to get some good things happening early in the ball game so that first game's going to be a pretty tough one on the road against West Virginia it's their first time there since I want to say the late 80s uh you've played in Morgan toown I think twice uh James compared that to a hornets nest that atmosphere what are your memories of playing um at WVU and what were your big takeaways from that environment yeah well uh a couple things uh we played there one year we played it was the very first year they opened the new stadium I'm pretty sure and I remember it rained it was cold rain when we played there and it was miserable um I I remember that we won the game but it was just really really cold and miserable and uh so I I remember that uh I remember some some bottles being thrown out of the the stadium and you know Jack Daniels bottles landing on the field uh behind our bench uh I also remember my roommate was Kurt Warner who was a native of West Virginia who did not go to the instate school and uh he was hurt in in a game down there and I but I remember they had like a a number 25 Jersey hanging you know from the uh from the rafter in the stadium there so they weren't too too happy about my roommate not going to school there so yeah it's it's a pretty rough rough place they love their football they're passionate um you know they've got a great rivalry with the University of Pittsburgh um but we also had a really intense rivalry with him as well and the game will be a night game you know no no not a night game but it'll be it'll be pretty lit up there for sure yeah so uh Paul fine bomb said earlier today I'm not sure if you saw yet that uh he feels James Franklin his tenure at Penn State has been good but he has to do more hasn't been good enough in rightly or wrongly I think a lot of Penn State fans are probably in the same boat or may even more extreme when it comes to their view of the program James Franklin Etc what's do you feel that his tenure has been successful enough here well I think it's been successful I mean just just the sheer numbers it's been successful um you know they've been a consistent winning program um he's been done a great job of recruiting and and kind of upgrading the talent level at pen state consistently so um you know I I think they put a good product on the field he has been successful but you know a lot of times in this business you're judged by how you play coach perform on the biggest stages in the biggest games and you know for whatever reason they've been close but they've not been able to figure out a way to beat Ohio State or Michigan on a consistent basis and so his record against those two teams is is kind of the thing that really you know gets people's attention his record against everybody else has been outstanding in the league but those two teams have have been tough for him so you know now it's different because there's no East Division so you're not going to play those two teams like this year they don't even play Michigan and you don't have to win those games in order to you know get back here to Indianapolis to compete for a championship or even make the college football playoffs so um you know that's good news for Penn State but there still is the case of whether it's Michigan whether it's Ohio State whether it's Old Miss whoever it is when you're playing the teams that are equal to you and Talent on the field um those are the games you need to win and and that that goes for everybody involved with P state do you see any parallels to where the program is now compared to where it was going in 1982 cuz for a long time Penn State was always a winning program but whether it was controversy with the polls whether it was a slip up in a regular season game slip up in a bowl game they just for whatever reason it just didn't end in a national title and it's there's some similarities I feel like with the where the program is now do you see any parallels there um yeah I mean I think there are parallels in that you know they're they are now an upper I think they're an upper echelon team in college football parentally going to be a top 10 team you know and um and are going to win you know at least 10 maybe 11 games you know and that's the expectation I think that's what our teams felt like you know back then it was it was strictly a matter of the polls who won a national championship we were the first one to win one at Penn State 82 but they had had undefeated teams before that that that didn't get the vote you know so penate probably should have had at least one if not two national championships before we actually won one they played for one in 1979 when they were undefeated and lost to Alabama the Sugar Bowl so they came close there but um you know that they were very very successful and but didn't really have a chance to compete for national championships the way teams do now uh with the playoff format if you had to predict would you say that they're going to be one of the 12 teams in the playoff well I I don't like predicting you know I don't like preseason polls I don't like predicting um you know I think that I think they've got a chance to make a run at it for sure but I think there's a lot of teams at this point as we're getting ready to start here in another three or four weeks um you know there's a lot of teams that they're going to feel that way but just based on what their track record has has been and you look at their record and where they finished that would have probably they would have found themselves in a 12 team playoff so you know they kind of have that track record so you would think they'd have a great shot at it if they don't get in um obviously not making it with 12 teams would look worse from the outside uh than not making it when there's only four teams what do you think that does to the perception of the program if they don't have any crazy injuries or circumstances but they for whatever reason they just don't make the playoff well I you know I don't know I mean I I would say in some ways it would maybe feel that that was deflating you know but uh until you really see how that plays out what the reasons would be for that um again I think if they stay healthy and if they play the the kind of ball they they're capable of playing um the way their schedule is set up I mean they they should be in the in the hunt and in the thick of things when it gets to the month of November uh what are your observations of Andy codal Nikki and you mentioned Drew throwing the ball downfield more how do you think uh that's gonna kind of change the game as far as the offense goes yeah I've never met Andy uh I just have kind of watched him from afar I really was impressed with what he did at Kansas I thought they were very creative very Innovative um the the thing that I'm interested to see in just how he develops the Penn State offense you know is building around I think in in some ways Kansas kind of they they didn't have the same kind of personnel that some of the teams they were playing so they used stuff to their advantage uh to gain an edge they also had I think both quarterbacks I remember seeing play for him were kind of used in option and some dual threat kind of things and I don't know that that's necessarily Drew's you know that's not his strength uh so I'm curious to see how Andy will blend you know what he's got with Drew Aller a big time NFL caliber arm um what he what he's got with two really outstanding running backs uh so it it'll be fun to watch I do know that he you know he's got a good track record he did a great job at Kansas and at Buffalo with Lance Leopold and U so I'm anxious to see what he does with pen how do you think Bo prial because you mentioned the style of quarterback he had at Kansas Bo fits that style uh how do you think the offense will suit what his he's capable of so well I mean just just again you know not knowing exactly what Andy's going to do at pen state but based on what I remember seeing Kansas look like my first reaction would have been well that on a whole the offense probably suits Bo a little bit better than Drew but I mean Drew you know was a winner last year and he had good numbers and so you know he's your guy but maybe they'll have certain packages for bo uh you know certainly if anything ever happened to Drew I'm sure that he would be able to step in and and Andy could maybe do some different things offensively that if he was the guy on a regular basis so and I I don't know you know in today's world of college football if a lot of quarterbacks if they're not playing if they're not the guy they're looking to transfer and and the fact that Bo didn't do that and he wanted to stay kind of makes me think he's excited about what what this offense might mean for him too right anything else