James Franklin defends Drew Allar in bizarre exchange with reporter: 'You're making me uncomfortable'
The talk of State College this week has been surrounding Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, but not necessarily what the sophomore was doing on the field.
While the former Medina High School quarterback has the Nittany Lions sitting at 5-0 heading into this week's game against UMass and has completed 64.6 percent of his passes for nearly 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns to zero interceptions and has also scored twice on the ground, it was a question about the quarterback that got everyone's attention.
Allar was the 2021 winner of Ohio's Mr. Football award after completing 305-of-509 passes for 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns to go along with just seven interceptions. He also rushed for 382 yards and nine touchdowns. He helped lead Medina to the regional final, where they lost to eventual state champion St. Edward.
In his weekly press conference on Tuesday, James Franklin made headlines by responding to a question about his quarterback and the Penn State offensive philosophy about throwing deep.
Reporter Cory Giger asked the head coach a question that made Franklin stop for a minute before answering.
"Is there a balance between hey we need you to throw the ball deep no matter (what), just take a shot," Giger asked. "Don't overthink it, take a shot, we need to see it. We are going to call it and we need you to get some confidence in doing this as opposed to even giving a young quarterback the chance of saying hey just check it down if it's not there."
Franklin had a blank stare as the question was being asked and finally responded.
"I don’t really understand what you’re saying because we would never," Franklin said. "Like my skin is curling when you say just drop back and chuck it deep no matter what. That is like, I don’t even know what you’re saying. It’s like you’re speaking from Mars."
Giger then doubled down.
"Just send a guy on a post pattern, take the shot, throw it," Giger started to say.
"No matter what," Franklin responded.
"Give your receiver a chance to make a play on a ball," Giger continued. "Even if he might be covered 30 yards down the field, maybe you think he will be open 45 yards down the field...""
"You’re speaking Japanese," Franklin said. "We have never done that, just throw the ball up and maybe he will be open and maybe he will catch it. My skin is like, you’re making me uncomfortable. I don’t know what you’re talking about. We would not do that, we would never do that, we have never thought about doing that. As a head coach, as an offensive coordinator, as a receivers coach – I coached the receivers – I didn’t want them to do that.
"So, no, no. Strong no. Like, yeah, no."
After answering, Franklin had one final quip.
"I’m hoping we can cut this out so this doesn’t even get out into the universe," Franklin said.
Unfortunately for Franklin, the internet doesn't have a delete button.
(Feature photo of Drew Allar at Medina in 2021 by Jeff Harwell)
