Penn State QB Drew Allar waited in the wings before. Then he became a star

MEDINA, Ohio — Class is in session, and the winding hallways are quiet. It’s a fall Friday at Medina High School, a sprawling campus in a small town 30 miles south of Cleveland. In a few minutes, 2,000 students will pass by one another en route to their next period. But now, the calm before the storm, is a perfect time to have a look at the newest addition to the school’s athletic wing.

Todd Hodkey, Medina’s athletic director, went into his office, rummaged around for a moment and emerged with a 4x4 poster board. They don’t have a home for it yet; they’ll have to find space among the championship plaques. But soon enough, it’ll be hanging on the high school’s brick walls for all to see.

Ohio’s Mr. Football 2021. DREW ALLAR.

Hodkey couldn’t help but crack a smile while holding that piece of school pride. The poster notes Allar’s achievements: 4,444 passing yards and 48 touchdowns as a senior, 9,103 yards and 111 touchdowns for his career. What Hodkey and the Medina community witnessed over the last few years was the emergence of a one-of-a-kind talent, a kid entrusted with the future of Penn State’s program.

As things stand, Allar remains the future, not the present. The heralded freshman is waiting patiently behind sixth-year senior Sean Clifford. Allar could see extended time against Minnesota if Clifford, who was injured at Michigan, is limited or can’t go. But if Clifford is healthy, head coach James Franklin indicated this week that the Nittany Lions will prioritize winning each week, not looking ahead to 2023 and beyond. That likely means sticking with the experienced, up-and-down veteran over the promising freshman.

Sooner or later, Allar is destined to be Penn State’s starting quarterback. But the position he finds himself in now isn’t foreign. Allar experienced and learned from a similar situation a few years ago at Medina.

“Once he knows the job is his, and it will happen, he’s going to just take off,” Medina football coach Larry Laird said. “He’s a football junkie. He can’t get enough of it. That’s who he is, and he’s made himself into the prospect that he is.”

But Allar wasn’t a five-star recruit from the jump. Initially, he wasn’t even a quarterback worth considering. In eighth grade, Allar was a linebacker, tight end and a backup quarterback on one of Medina’s two junior-high teams. On the freshman team, Allar split time under center. At that point, Allar — who is now a 6-foot-5, 238-pound specimen — was “a dancing skeleton,” as Laird described him. Allar could throw, but, boy, was he skinny.

That summer, Allar developed. His body, his arm strength, his football acumen. Everything took a step forward after his freshman season. As a sophomore, Allar was on Medina’s varsity team. But the Battling Bees were in good hands in 2019.

Starting quarterback Ryan Gillespie was a year older than Allar, and he was no slouch. Through six games, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior had 1,700 passing yards and guided Medina to a 4-2 record, the program’s second-best start in eight years. Gillespie didn’t do anything to throw the job away.

But every third or fourth series, Allar rotated in to get his feet wet. In those reps alone, he accumulated nearly 1,000 yards, and it became clearer and clearer who the more talented quarterback was. At one point, a Medina assistant coach, marveling during a practice at the sound Allar’s passes made whizzing through the air, turned to Laird and said: “You can hear his ball. He should be the starting quarterback.”

Laird knew he had to have a conversation with Allar. So, a month and a half into the season, Laird paused the tape during a one-on-one film review with his sophomore quarterback and posed a simple, yet career-changing question: When are you going to decide that you’re the man?

Within two weeks, Allar took the job as Medina’s starting quarterback.

“There was a pecking order for reps, and that pecking order changed,” Laird said. “I wanted him to maturely assert himself. … And you could see the whole dynamic change within two weeks. It just naturally happened.”

The process wasn’t easy. Allar and Gillespie were friends, and their fathers played high school ball together. But as any coach will tell you, there’s constant competition at every position. Laird explained to Gillespie’s parents: “Your son is one of the top three quarterbacks to come through here. Unfortunately, No. 1 is in the class behind.”

Once he had all the reps, Allar’s stock took off. He finished his sophomore year with 1,802 yards and 23 touchdowns. That offseason, the budding three-star prospect picked up offers from Central Michigan, Akron, Pitt and Toledo. As he continued to star for the Battling Bees as a junior, he attracted more attention.

A 2020 campaign in which he threw for 2,962 yards and 26 touchdowns, beating local powerhouses St. Edward and St. Ignatius along the way, earned him offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Washington, Kentucky, South Carolina and, of course, Penn State.

“I remember always going on Twitter thinking what’s the picture gonna be today? What school offered him now?” said Medina wide receiver Brennen Schramm, who played with Allar last season. “I was excited for him because it’s awesome seeing one of your guys succeed. But he handled it really, really well. I never heard him once brag or say anything about it. He’s a humble kid. I feel like that’s really special, too. You need someone like that.”

“The way he handled it was with humility,” Hodkey added. “Everyone knew he was the guy. He was the leader of the team. He didn’t have to tell anybody that.”

Hodkey credits Allar’s parents, Dawn and Kevin, for their role in molding him into an “ambassador” for Medina. Allar was the kind of person who would stay after games, sign autographs and take photos. Laird remembers after their win over St. Ignatius in 2020 — a 488-yard, four-touchdown performance by Allar — walking onto the team bus and realizing the only person missing was their star quarterback. Allar was on the field, shoulder pads still on, with a line of 50 children waiting to meet him.

Nights like that make Allar easy to root for around Medina, even in a Buckeye town. Ohio State flags fly proudly outside homes on Liberty Street heading toward the heart of Medina. At JoJo’s Sports Bar & Grill, where Allar, his teammates, coaches and family ate after games, signs for Ohio State gameday specials grace the walls.

You won’t find Penn State fans at JoJo’s. But you will find fans of Allar, pulling for the hometown kid whenever he gets in for the Nittany Lions. Allar has played in five of six games this year, completing 17 of 29 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns. He’s shown enough promise — from a layered deep ball at Purdue to a beautiful touchdown against Ohio — to garner support from Penn State fans young and old. And even though they might be a little biased, those at JoJo’s rooting for the Guardians to beat the Yankees in the ALDS last Friday, agreed with a segment of Penn State’s fan base that believes Allar should be starting for the Nittany Lions.

Allar’s time might come on Saturday. It might not come until 2023. But whenever the opportunity does present itself, those at Medina High School are confident that he’ll be ready.

“As a coach, you try to teach young people that you get what you earn. He is the epitome of that,” Laird said. “He has made himself not only that prospect, but now has made himself that competitive quarterback on Penn State’s roster, one of the top schools in the country. He’s done that. And not many people today have that drive. To me, I’m more proud of that than anything else no matter how it works out.

“He’s been in the situation before that he’s currently in under Clifford. He’s biding his time. He knows how to mentally take on the task of taking your reps and learning from the other guy. … Someday, I look forward to him taking over the job at Penn State. And someday, I look forward to him playing at the next level.”