Drew Allar is still learning his way in the NFL, but that’s not stopping the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback from keeping tabs on his former college head coach, James Franklin.
Allar played all four years of college under Franklin with the Penn State Nittany Lions, so they know each other well.
And like Allar, Franklin has moved on from Penn State, as he is now in his first season coaching the Virginia Tech Hokies after being fired by the Big Ten school in the middle of the 2025 campaign, which was also Allar’s final year with the program.
Under Franklin, the Hokies have gone 4-0 to start the season, and that has certainly made an impression on Allar.
“I’m not really surprised at all,” Allar said about the Hokies’ early success with Franklin at the helm, via Ashley Wenskoski of Pittsburgh Sports Tonight.
“I think he has a good track record of turning programs around from his days at Vanderbilt and then when he first got to Penn State and now obviously at a great school like Virginia Tech. I’m not really surprised at all.”
Franklin coached Penn State from 2014 to 2025, but his main focus now is on Virginia Tech, which has already surpassed their total of three wins in 2025.
Franklin and the Hokies will go for a 5-0 record on Friday against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va. A day before that, Allar and the Steelers will see the Cleveland Browns in a Thursday Night Football matchup at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio.
