MEDINA, Ohio — Medina High School quarterback Drew Allar, who helped lead the Bees to the regional finals, was selected as Ohio Mr. Football for 2021, the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association announced Thursday. 

What You Need To Know

  • Medina High School QB Drew Allar was named Ohio Mr. Football

  • Allar led Medina to a regional final for the second straight year

  • Allar will join the Penn State football program next year as one of the top prospects in the country

  • Springfield QB Te’Sean Smoot was the Ohio Mr. Football runner up

Allar, a high school senior, is slated to attend Penn State next year. Other recent quarterbacks to be named Ohio Mr. Football include Bills quarterback Mitch Trubisky and Bengals QB Joe Burrow. 

Allar threw for 4,444 yards, 48 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Medina had an unbeaten season until its regional final battle against St. Edward, the eventual state champion. 

"I'm super grateful for the honor and super excited about it, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates and coaches," Allar said in a press release. "It wasn't just me. We had a great team and a great coaching staff. That's why we were so successful.

"I don't think my teammates got enough credit for what they did. It always got circled back to me, and I don't think that was fair to them.”

Allar is ranked by ESPN as the No. 2 pro-style quarterback in the class of 2022. He is also the third-highest ranked prospect in Ohio and 36th nationally. 

"You could see the skill level as he came up through the ranks, but through hard work and dedication, he's made himself into the player he's become," Medina coach Larry Laird said in a press release. "I'm not talking about just on the field or in the weight room. He studied film all the time.”

While being recruited, Allar told Spectrum News last month that he had coaches from across the country reaching out to recruit him. 

“I had Zooms, like two Zooms a day basically with different colleges and different coaches just trying to pitch their universities to me and I was super grateful for it, but it did get overwhelming at times just because I was trying to focus on school and make sure all my grades were straight while trying to make one of the biggest decisions of my life,” said Allar. 

While he’ll join one of the top programs in the country, whether he plays right away remains in question. Senior quarterback Sean Clifford has the option of returning for a fifth season — fourth as a starter — due to the pandemic. 

Springfield quarterback Te'Sean Smoot, who helped lead the Wildcats to the OHSAA Division I title game, was the Ohio Mr. Football runner up. 

Spectrum News 1 reporter Ryan Schmelz contributed to this report.

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