Lions fight past Rutgers, but Allar injury creates lots of questions

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- There's no telling just how much Drew Allar's injury in Saturday's 27-6 win over Rutgers will impact the Penn State program, both in the short term and for the long haul.

Allar took off and ran up the middle on second-and-4 in the third quarter. When a quarterback does that, there's always the risk that he'll take a big hit. And boy, did Allar take a big hit.

"In that situation, he was just about to get down, and somebody flashed from behind another player and hit him just right," James Franklin said.

Allar is a big young man -- 6-foot-5, 242 pounds -- and he's shown he can take a hit. But he's not a natural running quarterback by any stretch, and even though he's gotten better at that in recent weeks, there has always been the danger that one hit on him could change things in a big way for Penn State.

That big hit came Saturday, knocking Allar out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury. He was seen on the sideline wincing in pain as he tried to lift his arm, which is never a good sign.

Now the Nittany Lions face some serious questions.

Will Allar be able to play in next week's regular-season finale against Michigan State?

Will he play again this season?

If you want to let your imagination run a bit wild, you may even find yourself pondering this question: Will Allar ever play again for the Lions?

OK, OK, that last one might be taking things a bit far at this point, but anything and everything could conceivably be on the table.

Franklin doesn't provide injury updates unless a player is going to miss the rest of the season. The coach did not seem to think that would be the case in his postgame press conference.

"I'm not going to get into the medical stuff," Franklin said. "First of all, that wouldn't be appropriate for Drew, and that wouldn't be appropriate for his family. But I don't see this being significant. But we'll see."

If it's not significant, then Allar could play Friday against Michigan State in Detroit. If it's a little significant, then there would be no reason to risk him playing in that game. Then he'd get to rest up for a month to see if he could play in the bowl game.

But if there's any damage or lingering pain for Allar, both he and the program would be wise to shut it down if need be for as long as it takes. Bowl games nowadays don't mean anywhere near as much as they used to, with lots of players opting out as they prepare for the pros, and so Allar's camp could have a decision to make about that.

Lastly, under the worst-case scenario, there already were people wondering if Allar might test the market by entering the transfer portal after the season. We can get into all the particulars of that later -- such as the offense possibly facing big obstacles next year -- but you get the idea: If he cannot play again this season for health reasons, there's just no telling if we'll see Allar take the field again in a Penn State uniform.

"I haven't checked on him after the game, but on the sideline I talked to him," left tackle Olu Fashanu said. "You know with him, no matter how Drew feels during the game he's always sort of the same guy. So, even though I checked on him, he was still the same guy. He was still encouraging the offense, and we told him that we have his back no matter what."

Allar ran for the first down on second-and-4, and after getting the required yardage, he didn't slide to get down. When he's taken off and run a few times in recent weeks -- successfully, mind you -- he has not made a habit of getting down. In this situation, he took the big hit as he kept going for extra yardage.

Even though the hit looked rough -- the kind where one might immediately wonder if he was OK -- Allar didn't stay on the ground and got right back up. But on the next play, he took a snap and looked very uncomfortable, so he just threw the ball out of bounds to his right.

Penn State's offense has struggled this season, and this game was the first played after offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was fired. Ja'Juan Seider and Ty Howle were the co-offensive coordinators and play callers for this game, and having Allar run in that spot did make sense, except for the fact that he ran right into the teeth of a tough Rutgers defense.

That's the risk-reward of running your quarterback.

"Obviously we never want to put our players in a position where they're going to get an injury, bumps, bruises, whatever it may be," Franklin said. "At that point, he was leading us in I think average rush and I think was averaging like 10 yards per rush. And really what he had done the whole game or what he's really done the whole season is get as many yards as he can and get down, and he's done a really good job of managing that all season long."

After throwing the ball out of bounds, Allar immediately ran off the field and was replaced by Beau Pribula. The backup had seen the hit and knew he would have to get ready ASAP.

"I'm always ready to go in the game no matter what," Pribula said. "I saw it was kind of a rough hit. But he looked alright at first, and then I saw he was kind of dazed a litle but, and then he signaled to the sideline.

"I was ready to go immediately. I'm always trying to stay warmed up on the sideline, ready to go at all times."

Allar went into the medical tent, and when he came out, he didn't have his helmet on and was in some visible pain with the arm. It became pretty clear right away that his day was over, although Pribula said he wasn't sure that he'd be in line to finish the game.

"I never really knew for sure," Pribula said. "I was just focused on the next drive and staying locked in."

Pribula came in with Penn State leading just 10-6, and it was his responsibility to finish things out. So, he did what he does best -- run the ball.

On his first play, he took off for a 39-yard gain. He finished with a team-high 71 yards rushing on eight carries.

Mark Selders / Penn State Athletics

Beau Pribula takes off for a long run against Rutgers.

Pribula managed the offense well, and the Lions scored 17 points with him at quarterback. But he wasn't really playing a traditional quarterback role, which shouldn't surprise anyone, and instead was primarily just a running threat.

It wasn't until the closing minutes that Pribula threw his first and only pass -- a 9-yard gain to tight end Tyler Warren.

"Beau Pribula came in and really did a great job, specifically with his legs, and gave us a little bit more diversity in the running game, which I think was helpful for us," Franklin said.

Everybody knows Pribula can run. He's been doing that all year. In fact, that's really all he's been doing. He has thrown just 17 passes all season, completing seven for 81 yards. He has run the ball 44 times for 240 yards and four touchdowns.

The big question going forward if Pribula has to take over for Allar is whether or not he can function as a passing quarterback. The redshirt freshman simply has not shown an ability to do that in his young career, although in all fairness to him, he hasn't had to because he's always been in games in mopup duty.

For all we know, Pribula might be a really good passer and will show that to everyone if he has to start Friday against Michigan State.

Or, if he is QB1 for that game, the coaches might decide to keep doing what they do with Pribula and have him just stick with the run and only throw occasionally.

Here's what Pribula had to say about his passing development.

"We were ready to throw the ball today," Pribula said. "We had some shots down, we had passes that I ended up running on. I'm really comfortable throwing the ball. It just so happens we didn't throw it as much today.

"Yeah, I have (developed as a passer). Physically, it is what it is, I feel really good. And then mentally I feel like I've improved a lot offseason, just going through progressions and learning how to read defenses."

Penn State's defense has to face Pribula in practice every day, so those players know what he can do.

"Beau is a great player and a great guy on and off the field," linebacker Kobe King said. "He approaches everything the same way. The energy he brings is amazing. He's a great runner. I didn't know he was that fast. He has helped us out a lot, and he showed that today, and I am proud of that."

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THE INJURIES

• QB Drew Allar was knocked out of the game in the third quarter with an apparent shoulder injury. He was replaced by Beau Pribula.

• WR Harrison Wallace III was out again.

THE SCHEDULE

Penn State wraps up the regular season Friday against Michigan State in Detroit.

THE CONTENT

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