Drew Allar makes top 25 cut for Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list

Penn State has never had a player win this national passing award. Can Drew Allar be the first?

Penn State quarterback [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] remains on the watch list for this year’s Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award after the watch list was trimmed to the top 25 candidates.

Joining Allar among the 25 remaining players on the Golden Arm watch list include fellow Big Ten quarterbacks Luke Altmyer (Illinois), Billy Edwards Jr. (Maryland), Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), Will Howard (Ohio State), and Kurtis Rourke (Indiana).

Allar has helped guide Penn State to a 5-0 start to the season. Through the first five games of the season, Allar has completed 70.9% of his pass attempts (73-of-103) for 1,101 yards and 9 touchdowns with just one interception. His passer rating of 187.56 is the second-best in the Big Ten as the Nittany Lions go into a big road test this coming week at USC.

Penn State has never had a player win the Golden Arm Award, which was first presented in 1987 to Syracuse’s Don McPherson. Last year’s winner of the award was LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. The most recent player from the Big Ten to win the award was Connor Cook of Michigan State in 2015. Other notable past winners of the Golden Arm Award include Kenny Pickett of Pittsburgh (2021), Joe Burrow of LSU (2019), Marcus Mariota of Oregon (2014), Matt Ryan of Boston College (2007), Eli Manning of Ole Miss (2003), and Peyton Manning of Tennessee (1997). In 1994, Penn State’s Kerry Collins was beat out for the award by Alabama’s Jay Barker.

The winner of this year’s Golden Arm award will be presented on December 6.

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