Drew Allar, Nick Singleton Added to Maxwell Award Watch List

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On July 29, the Maxwell Award watch list was released, and on it are the names of two Penn State players—quarterback Drew Allar and running back Nick Singleton. Penn State has won the Maxwell Award seven times, tied for most along with Notre Dame. The last Penn State player to win this prestigious award was running back Larry Johnson back in 2002. So why can either Allar or Singleton win the award this season?

Big Year for Allar

With a new offense this year Allar is hoping for a better season. The explosiveness has lacked from Penn State’s offense since the days of Joe Moorehead but that might be back under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. Kotelnicki foresaw an offense that averaged 34.8 points per game at Kansas and quarterback Jason Bean flourished under Kotelnicki’s offense.

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Allar doesn’t have far to go to become one of college football’s best quarterbacks. He had a 25-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. What was lacking was his consistency from game to game. He only had 70 passing yards in the loss to Michigan at home and struggled to move the ball down the field in a loss against Ohio State.

New leadership was needed from the offensive coordinator position. A full offseason of work and the former five-star prospect could be the first Penn State quarterback to win the Maxwell Award since Kerry Collins in 1994.

Singleton Ready to Bounce Back

Expectations were high last year for the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year winner in 2022. Unfortunately, Singleton couldn’t back up his impressive freshman season where he rushed for more than 1,000 yards. The bar has been set pretty high for Penn State running backs ever since Saquon Barkley flourished at State College. Singleton appeared ready to take the next step in his sophomore year, but it was fellow sophomore running back Kaytron Allen who had the better season of the two.

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In Kotelnicki’s new offense who gets the bulk of the carries will be interesting. Kotelnicki didn’t balance out the carries between his running backs while with the Jayhawks. Starter Devin Neal carried the ball 203 times while backup Daniel Hersaw Jr. only saw 121 carries. So if Singleton can re-establish himself as the No. 1 back in this offense he has the potential to come home with the Maxwell Award.