Collins: There's no competition, but no guarantees at QB either for Penn State

Apr. 16—STATE COLLEGE

It's so clearly stupid to judge anything based on a spring scrimmage.

Anything can be staged to look any way a coach might want it to, and over the years, the Blue-White Game has been a good example of that.

No player is going to be put into a position he can't handle. Especially a franchise player like Drew Allar.

So there was an expectation that the sophomore quarterback might not just have a good day when he took the field in Saturday's annual spring game at Beaver Stadium, but a great one. After all, the program has a lot invested in him. Pretty much the entire offense, really. And there's no sense sugar-coating any of that, as much as head coach James Franklin has tried to since spring camp started last month.

For more-significant-than-usual stretches against the White team's defense Saturday, Allar did something you don't often see Penn State quarterbacks do in the spring game. He got challenged. And, he struggled.

He had elite defenders like defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton chasing him down consistently, and the rhythm all quarterbacks want to find, no matter what the game situation is, eluded him for much of the day. He missed open receivers. He tried for big plays when small ones were available. There were times he needed a throw with some feel, some touch, and he elected to fire a fastball instead.

"I started a little bit slow," Allar conceded. "I missed some throws that I shouldn't be missing. They're all things that are correctable, though."

For sure. And, that's what the spring game is for, after all. Develop skills, show off what you've learned, but also find what still needs to be worked on.

Allar finished his first outing as a sophomore by completing 19 of 30 throws for 202 yards and a touchdown. It was, by any statistical measure a fine performance, outside of the fact that that one touchdown was the only one the Blue team managed in a 10-0 shutout of the White squad.

But it wasn't great. It wasn't particularly eye-catching, outside of the 28-yard missile he threw to receiver Omari Evans in the first half, and a perfect toss into coverage to Kaden Saunders for a fourth-quarter first down, with a rusher in his facemask and a hand flailing toward his wrist, that moved the sticks and essentially ended any hope for the White squad.

Franklin said some of that had to do with the quality of depth at a receiver position that is more talented than consistent in its own right. But he pinned a fair share of the development of that group on Allar's ability to work with them in the summer, to develop a rapport and grab that consistency on their own.

"They've got to build chemistry," Franklin said. "He's got to build it with multiple guys and between our tight ends and wide receivers I think we could be effective."

Franklin has been persistent in his assertion this spring that the job is not yet Allar's, which is comical in a few ways. Allar earned the backup job behind longtime starter Sean Clifford last season as a true freshman, played well in relief, was a top-rated quarterback prospect coming out of high school and is the type of player you build a recruiting reputation around.

He also has a rocket of an arm, one that redshirt freshman wide receiver Kaden Saunders said has been difficult for players to adjust to after getting used to Clifford's merely quite-strong arm.

Allar is the type of player you give chances to, and backup Beau Pribula, who completed just 10 of 27 passes, didn't exactly inspire confidence that this is anything but a competition in name only.

"He throws a great ball," Saunders said of Allar. "He places it where only we can get it. Drew just makes everybody around him better, especially in the quarterback room."

It should say something about what the coaching staff thinks of Allar to allow him to go through those ups and downs in front of a crowd, to see what kind of defenses they threw at him, the quality of players making life difficult for him. They aren't worried about his confidence. But they know that for all the talent he has, he's got a ways to go.

As far as the most important position in sports goes, the Blue-White Game taught that Penn State undoubtedly has the best kind of moldable clay.

It also showed that the Nittany Lions aren't near a championship-contending team unless the next four months can generate a whole lot of consistency within Drew Allar's game.

DONNIE COLLINS covers Penn State football for The Times-Tribune. Contact him at dcollins@timesshamrock.com and follow him on Twitter @PennStateTT.