Drew Allar’s season came to a painful end on October 11th after a broken ankle ended the rest of the season. Even more disappointing is that the injury occurred his senior year, and eligibility is running out. The 2026 NFL draft seems like the best solution, but wait… what if Allar can get another year in college football?

In his football podcast, former Penn State offensive lineman Landon Tengwall discussed the very possibility – how Allar could get a medical redshirt. “In 2025, just because a rule is written and it’s on paper doesn’t mean that it cannot be changed or erased… Allar appeared in 75% of games in his freshman season, but he only participated in 15% of the offensive snaps in 2022. This would equate to less than four full games of snaps,” said Tengwall.

Currently, Vanderbilt football players Langston Patterson and Issa Ouattara are leading a class action lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking an extra year of eligibility. The players are aiming for 5 years of college football eligibility, aligning with 5 years of graduation tenure, excluding the redshirt year. Their next court hearing is scheduled for 15th December, where the court can grant an injunction against the NCAA.

“If Patterson wins this lawsuit, it changes the rules for everybody, not just college football, everybody in college athletics to get five years to play five seasons,” said Tengwall. But if Allar returns, will it be to Penn State? Tangwell discussed a major possibility where Nittany Lions fans could see Allar exiting the program for other programs like Indiana, LSU, Alabama, Clemson, Miami, or Ole Miss. Why? All these teams either have young QBs or QBs going to the 2026 NFL draft.

And with PSU still on the coaching hunt after firing James Franklin, it adds another layer of unpredictability to the program. “They’re [Penn State players] waiting to see who this head coach is going to be, what assistant coaches he’s going to bring, and do I fit in this defense or the offensive coordinators. Drew Allar sees another option RPO-heavy offensive coordinator. He’d probably run, turn the other way, and just get the heck out of there. At least I would if I were him,” elaborated Tengwall.

Tengwall joined Penn State in 2021 as a five-star recruit and played till the 2023 season. If not for his medical retirement in 2023, we would surely have seen the former OL protect Allar this season, too. Not to mention, the duo shared mutual NIL projects and community work and also collaborated with an upstart publishing company for children’s books. So, could we see the Penn State QB1 in different colors come 2026?

Currently, Terry Smith is taking the reins as interim head coach of Penn State. But the search for a new face continues. Names like Dan Mullen from UNLV, D’Anton Lynn from USC, and Will Stein from Oregon have been surfacing. Not to mention, other names like P.J. Fleck from Minnesota and Joe Brady, the Buffalo Bills’ OC, are also in the mix.

All of these coaches, apart from Mullen (who is quite adaptable), use a combination of RPOs, power spread, and pro-style offense with spread elements. Sure, we have seen Will Stein working with pocket passers like Dante Moore, but it’s doubtful he will keep Allar around.

Stein has emphasized many times his preference to use mobile QBs like Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. “We’re still in the early stages of figuring that out. I’ve had Hudson Card at Lake Travis, who was a dual-threat kid. I had Frank Harris at UTSA, who was a dual threat. Bo could run as well and Dillon,” said Stein in the preseason when asked how he would employ Austin Novosad and Dante Moore.

In the absence of a guarantee of the QB1 position at Penn State, Drew Allar’s exit surely will be likely. Not just that, but his sinking draft stock is another reason to do that, along with his injury timeline.

Returning to college football in 2026 makes sense for Drew Allar

Drew Allar’s ankle injury was expected to take 3 months’ worth of time to recover. That would mean the quarterback would be ready for the NFL draft preparation in mid-January at least. However, according to Tengwall, that timeline looks optimistic at best, unlikely at worst. According to him, it can take almost 6 months for the injury of Allar’s kind to recover. It would then come with missed NFL Pro Days and the scouting combine, tanking his draft stock massively.

“Depending on the severity of an ankle break, recovery can exceed up to six months. If he did go into the six-month time frame, that would put Aller’s ability to be able to perform for NFL teams in jeopardy at the combine and at the Pro Day,” said Tengwall.

Moreover, Mel Kiper’s recent NFL mock draft has kept Allar as the 12th-ranked QB in the 2026 NFL draft. That comes with a significantly lower contract, apart from slim chances to sustain in the pro ball.

Currently, Allar made more than $3 million in 2025 from Penn State’s NIL deal. Never mind the American Eagle, Nike, and Dodge commercials the QB1 has been doing. That puts Allar’s earnings significantly higher than what he will earn at Penn State in 2026. Last year, Cam Miller was the 14th QB to have been taken in the NFL draft, and he earned just a $4.3 million contract spread out for four years.

A college football return then seems logical. But whether he returns to Penn State or not, that would be the major question going forward. Food for thought, could we even see Allar going to Virginia Tech, where James Franklin is now appointed head coach?