Blue-White Game: Allar can do special things, but consistency's key

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Drew Allar made two magician-like throws during Penn State's Blue-White Game on Saturday that conjured up visions of Patrick Mahomes.

This nifty little creative sidearm toss to Kaden Saunders was the most obvious one, and had everybody talking.

There was another Allar throw in the third quarter, a bullet to Omari Evans, that was even better. I couldn't find any quick video clips of it, unfortunately, but trust me, it was an impressive throw that showed off Allar's elite arm and playmaking ablity.

Allar scrambled up in the pocket and, while looking like he would take off and run, just flicked his wrist and fired a laser to Evans for a 19-yard gain. The fact that he got so much mustard throwing from that angle showed off his impressive fastball.

Oh, and there was, of course, this touchdown throw to a wide-open Evans in the first quarter, which led the Blue to a 10-0 win over the White in Penn State's spring scrimmage. Allar did a nice job staying in the pocket, then delivered this basic, on-the-money throw with ease.

OK, but ...

A few seconds before that TD pass to Evans, Allar had one of those yips kind of throws. He was moving to his left and had running back Kaytron Allen wide open by 10 yards on the left sideline for a quick dumpoff pass.

It might have produced a catch-and-run touchdown. But Allar threw it two feet over Allen's head.

Allar may be a prized prospect and potential superstar, but he's also still just a rising sophomore who has never started a college football game. And so, everybody is going to need to be patient with him, because there's a good chance he will go through a whole lot of ups and downs as he tries to live up to his gargantuan potential.

Allar completed 19 of 30 passes for 207 yards and one TD Saturday, and the one thing he nitpicked about his own performance was how he started.

"Personally, I would like to start a little bit faster," he said. "That's one of our main things on offense is start fast. Last year, we did a pretty good job of just opening games, opening drives going down and getting that first first down and converting into points. And that's going to be huge this year.

"I think I started a little bit slow," he added. "First like two drives I missed some things that I shouldn't be missing. So it's all things correctable."

The slow start did not, he noted, have anything to do with nerves.

"No, no, no," he said. "It's just a little amped up, I guess."

Allar settled in after the slow start and did some really nice things. He looked poised, stayed in the pocket when he needed to and threw a number of passes on the money.

But ...

He continued to have some errant passes as the day went on -- throws that he just simply cannot miss as badly as he did. Like this one:

Late in the game, Allar drove the offense inside the 10-yard line with some nice throws. But then he had a couple of bad misses, and the drive resulted in no points.

Still, this was the spring game. Should we really be dissecting everything so much? That's a reasonable question.

It's just that so, so much is expected of Allar that it's hard not to want to zero in on everything he does to provide a glimpse of hope for the future.

And again, those nifty throws mentioned up above showcased the kind of quarterback he can be -- somebody who can make a play even if it doesn't look like there's much there.

"I enjoy it a lot," he said when asked about that particular aspect. "I would say, like every quarterback ... 70% of the game, you're going to be clean in the pocket, especially with the offensive line we have. You're going to be able to stand back there, go through your progressions really cleanly.

"But the other 30% is really where you can help the offense turn nothing into something and create more explosives for the offense. So I do take pride in it. But I'd rather focus on the fundamentals that are going to be more of like 70% of the time, like just making sure I'm doing all the little things right and footwork and just mechanically."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• There is no quarterback competition. We know this. And it was clear Saturday.

Not to knock Beau Pribula, but the difference was really night and day between him and Allar.

Pribula completed 7 of 22 passes for 56 yards for the White team, but was better at 3 of 5 for 36 yards with the Blue. His total, then, was 10 of 27 for 92 yards.

In all fairness to Pribula, he was running for his life much of the game. His offensive line on the White team did not do a good job of pass protection, with defenders often having pretty clear paths to Pribula, who had to scramble on nearly every throw and rarely had a clean pocket.

OK, but that's where we've been led to believe that Pribula is at his best -- making things happen with his feet. On this day, though, when he had to throw on the run, he simply wasn't very accurate.

• The main theme of James Franklin's postgame press conference was pointing out how the quarterbacks and receivers all need to get together a whole bunch over the summer to throw, and throw and throw.

That's how everybody will get on the same page and build a better a rapport in the passing game.

I asked Franklin about Allar's ability to make some special throws and what needs to happen for him to become more consistent.

"We can't throw enough," Franklin said. "We need more wideouts to compete at a high level, and I'm not talking about even from outside. We need six guys that we feel like we could win in the Big Ten with. And I think we have six guys on our current roster that could do it, but they got to step up. ... They just can't throw enough to build that consistency and that chemistry."

Franklin then brought up a very interesting point about who the passes could be going to, noting that there will be a lot of options and not just wide receivers.

"I keep bringing up that third wide receiver," he said. "They're not just competing with wide receivers, because just like last year, if our second best tight end is better than our third wide receiver, then we're going to be in more 12 personnel. Although, we'd like to be an 11 personnel team if we could, but we're going to play to our strengths. If our tight end room is our strength, then those guys will be on the field."

• Speaking of the third wide receiver, Omari Evans had a really big day in his attempt to fill that role for now (keep in mind, Dante Cephas will be transferring in soon, so Penn State then will have three wideouts with him, KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Harrison Wallace III).

Evans caught the lone touchdown of the day, on the 28-yard strike from Allar, and finished with five catches for 80 yards.

Evans absolutely looked like someone who can contribute in a real game. But, we always have to remember, this was not a real game, so everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.

"Omari really stepped up, and we need a third wideout to step up," Franklin said. "So that was exciting to see him make some plays out there."

• Dani Dennis-Sutton was a major factor on defense, finishing with a pair of sacks in the first half.

"I thought Dani was unblockable out there," Franklin said. "He's going to have a big year for us. I couldn't be more excited about him."

• The running game wasn't much of a factor, with Kaytron Allen going for 15 yards on four carries and Nicholas Singleton 13 yards on three carries.

This scrimmage was clearly about getting some good work in for the quarterbacks, who threw a combined 58 passes.

• The third quarterback, true freshman Jaxon Smolik, only saw the field for one series. He threw one incomplete pass and fumbled a low snap for an 11-yard loss. Clearly, the focus was on making sure Allar and Pribula got as many reps as possible out of this scrimmage.

• Franklin said every effort was made to make the teams even, so there would be as much competition in the game as possible. This wasn't a situation where the starters all played against the backups, thereby leading to an uneven game.

About the only area where things didn't seem all that fair were with the White offensive line, again because Pribula really never had much time to do anything.

"I definitely think both sides had an even matchup," defensie end Chop Robinson said. "We both had a lot of guys developing and learning stuff, so putting them in that position I think will be very helpful for them."

• The best catch of the day was this thing of beauty by Tyler Johnson, on the final play of the first half.

• The best effort of the day may have just been by offensive lineman Golden Israel-Achumba, who put a nice soulful spin singing the national anthem.

• Franklin named the team captains for the upcoming season. They are left tackle Olu Fashanu on offense, safety Keaton Ellis on defense and Dom DeLuca on special teams.

• Penn State estimated the attendance at 63,000.

There was never anything close to that many fans in the stadium, in large part because it was raining for much of the early afternoon. Then again, a lot of times at the Blue-White Game, many fans remain at their tailgates all day and never come into the stadium.

• This, to me, was the best tweet of the day, because it pointed out something very valuable Allar can learn from the scrimmage.

• I'll vote for myself for second-best tweet of the day. This is VITAL for the team's success this year.

• Penn State got some good news in recruiting after the scrimmage. Caleb Brewer, a 3-star athlete from Wyomissing High School in Reading, announced his commitment.

Brewer (6-4, 275) is rated the No. 17 prospect in Pennsylvania and No. 59 athlete in the country for the class of 2024. He also had offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Michigan, among others.