Nov 18, 2023; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar (15) carries the ball as Rutgers Scarlet Knights defensive lineman Isaiah Iton (9) pursues during the second half at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Drew Allar QB Penn State |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #15 PLAY STYLE: Mobile Pocket Passer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 03/23/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.90 seconds (34%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Age: 22.4 DOB: 03/08/2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #15 | |
| PLAY STYLE: Mobile Pocket Passer | |
| Last Updated: 03/23/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.90 seconds (34%*) | |
| Age: 22.4 DOB: 03/08/2004 | |
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SHARE THIS PROFILE:
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| Overall Rating: | 82.4 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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77% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Release Speed: |
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79% |
| Short Passing: |
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66% |
| Medium Passing: |
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77% |
| Long Passing: |
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76% |
| Rush/Scramble: |
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73% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
5th
Overall Rank:
#156
Position rank:
#6 (QB)
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| College Games: 44 College Snaps: 2252 | ||
ESPN RATING: 86/100
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247 RATING: 100/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.9 (97%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
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| Will Levis - Kentucky |
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73% |
| Joe Milton III - Tennessee |
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72% |
| Will Howard - Ohio State |
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65% |
Drafted: ROUND: 3 - Pick Number: 76 (PIT)
Draft Profile: Bio
The record books at Medina High School in Ohio needed rewriting by the time Drew Allar finished his prep career under head coach Larry Laird. Standing 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds even as a high schooler, Allar was a three-year varsity starter who piled up 9,103 career passing yards and 98 touchdowns, both school and county records. His senior season was absurd: 305-of-511 for 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns, numbers that earned him Ohio's Mr. Football award, Max Preps Ohio Player of the Year honors, and a first-team all-state nod. He was invited to the Adidas All-America Bowl and earned Elite 11 honors. The recruiting services couldn't agree on a star rating, but they all agreed he was special. 247Sports tabbed him a five-star and the top quarterback in the 2022 class; ESPN slotted him as a four-star and the No. 2 quarterback nationally; Rivals gave him four stars and ranked him No. 6 at the position.Allar arrived at Penn State and saw the field immediately as a true freshman in 2022, appearing in 10 games behind Sean Clifford and completing 35-of-60 passes for 344 yards with four touchdowns. When Clifford departed, Allar took the reins in 2023 and opened his tenure with a bang, setting an FBS record by completing 311 consecutive attempts without an interception to start his career. That sophomore campaign produced 2,631 yards, 25 touchdowns, and just two interceptions across 13 starts while leading Penn State to a 10-3 record and a Peach Bowl appearance against Ole Miss. The efficiency was staggering: his 12.5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio ranked second nationally, and he earned All-Big Ten honorable mention honors from both the coaches and media.
Year three brought a leap in production. Under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, Allar completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,327 yards and 24 touchdowns with eight interceptions, adding 302 rushing yards and six scores on the ground. He was named a team captain, earned Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist recognition, and landed on the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Top 10 list. Penn State went 13-3, captured a spot in the College Football Playoff, and advanced all the way to the national semifinal before falling 27-24 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. Allar returned for 2025 with first-round aspirations, but the year unraveled quickly. After a 3-0 start against weak competition, three consecutive losses to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern dropped the bottom out. To make matters worse, Allar suffered a season-ending lower-body injury in the Northwestern game, his fifth appearance of the season, closing the door on his college eligibility. He finishes his Penn State career first all-time in completion percentage (62.9%) and interception percentage (1.19%), third in touchdown passes (53), and sixth in passing yardage (6,302).
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Throws with effortless velocity and spin rate that make NFL-caliber windows accessible; balls jump off his hand on intermediate crossers and dig routes with the kind of zip that collapses throwing lanes in real time.
- At 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, he has the frame and build that offensive coordinators draw up on whiteboards when they close their eyes and imagine their franchise quarterback.
- When he trusts his base and drives through his front foot, he can drop the ball into a bucket 40 yards downfield with a trajectory that takes away the safety's closing angle entirely.
- Competitive runner who will lower his shoulder into a linebacker on third-and-short without flinching; carried designed read-option looks and picked up 302 rushing yards and six touchdowns as a junior.
- Can manipulate his arm slot from a standard three-quarter delivery to sidearm or over-the-top depending on the rush lane, giving him the ability to muscle throws out around edge pressure when the pocket tightens.
- Put the tape on from West Virginia in 2024 and you see a quarterback capable of rhythm timing throws with real anticipation, firing to vacated spots before the coverage arrives on multiple reps.
- Takes care of the football at an elite rate across his career; a 1.19% interception rate over 843 career attempts speaks to a conservative decision tree that, at minimum, keeps the offense from bleeding out.
- His release is quick and compact for a quarterback his size, grading out well above average in release speed, which gives him the ability to survive tighter pockets than most 6-foot-5 passers can.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Short-area accuracy remains a legitimate concern; his ball placement on screens, quick slants, and check-downs grades out well below what NFL coordinators demand from their starting quarterbacks.
- Footwork is a constant battle, and when his base deteriorates under pressure he becomes a completely different thrower, reverting to flat-footed deliveries that sail on him or die at the receiver's ankles.
- Field processing and post-snap reads remain alarmingly raw for a three-year starter; he bird-dogs his primary target, and when the first look isn't there, the eyes drop and the play falls apart instead of working to the second or third option.
- Interior pressure wrecks him in a way that's unusual for a pocket passer this size; rather than climbing the pocket or stepping up into throwing lanes, he drifts backward and to the side, compounding the problem.
- The 2025 regression stripped away the benefit of the doubt: without Tyler Warren manufacturing easy completions underneath, Allar's big-time throw rate cratered to a career-worst 2.5% while his turnover-worthy play rate climbed, exposing a dependence on scheme and supporting cast rather than individual growth.
Scouting Report: Summary
The conventional wisdom says returning to school is almost always the right call. Sharpen your game, add to the tape, and watch your stock climb. Drew Allar is a painful reminder that the conventional wisdom doesn't always apply. Multiple reports had him pegged as a first-round pick in the 2025 draft. NFL GMs were scouting him heavily during the College Football Playoff. One source said Allar "probably" have been the No. 2 overall pick to Cleveland, the team he grew up rooting for. Instead, Allar bet on himself, watched his supporting cast deteriorate around him, suffered a season-ending injury five games into 2025, and turned what could have been a nine-figure career into a coin flip. It was, by any honest measure, a massive miscalculation.What makes Allar's situation so maddening is that the talent hasn't disappeared. It's still in there. You catch flashes of it on the 2024 tape when his feet are set and the pocket is clean, and the ball comes out with a velocity and trajectory that maybe five or six guys in this entire draft class can replicate. There is first-round ability locked inside Allar's frame, and the right coaching staff with the right scheme could be the key that turns it. He needs structure: play-action concepts that move the pocket laterally, RPO packages that simplify his reads to one or two options, and a run game committed enough to keep defenses from teeing off on his processing limitations. A coordinator who asks him to stand tall in a collapsing pocket and work through a full-field concept on third-and-eight is going to get the worst version of this player. But a coordinator who builds around his arm, protects him with scheme, and gives him high-percentage layups to build confidence on could unearth something special.
The question every team in this draft has to answer is whether they believe they're the ones who can unlock it. Because the gap between Allar at his best and Allar at his worst is as wide as any quarterback in this class. His ceiling is a legitimate NFL starter with the arm to win games in January. His floor is a career backup who looks like a franchise quarterback in shorts and never puts it together when the lights come on. The season-ending injury muddies the evaluation further, robbing teams of the extended 2025 look that could have settled the debate one way or the other. He is a Day 2 or early Day 3 selection now, but somewhere in the film room, a quarterback coach is going to watch his best reps and convince himself he's found the steal of the draft. Whether that conviction holds up against three years of inconsistent tape is the billion-dollar question.
Written By:
K.C. Martinez (Big Ten)
Drew Allar percentiles vs other Quarterbacks (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Drew Allar (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
133.5
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
13.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.