Penn State’s Drew Allar, Nick Singleton named national player of the year candidates

Penn State’s recognition on national preseason watch lists continued Monday after a brief weekend hiatus.

Senior quarterback Drew Allar and senior running back Nick Singleton earned spots on the Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list.

Penn State was one of six schools (Arizona State, Clemson, Ohio State, Oregon, South Carolina and Vanderbilt) with two honorees. Only Texas outpaced the Nittany Lions with three.

This is the second player of the year nomination for Allar and Singleton, as they were on the Maxwell Award’s watch list last week. Senior running back Kaytron Allen was on the Maxwell list but not Walter Camp’s.

Allar is one of this season’s most popular names as the top quarterback nationally, holding 29 straight starts under his belt. He stands as the most efficient passer in program history entering 2025 with a 62.9% career completion rate and a 1.19% interception rate. The Medina, Ohio, native is all over the top 10 in the record books, including in career passing yards (6,302), touchdowns (53) and wins as the starter (23).

Singleton, meanwhile, has put together two 1,000-yard seasons in his three years. That has him in striking distance of the program’s all-time rushing record, sitting just 1,020 yards shy of Evan Royster’s 3,932.

Here are the other watch lists and their Penn State members announced thus far, with more running through Aug. 11.

Maxwell Award (Player of the Year): QB Drew Allar, RB Nick Singleton, RB Kaytron Allen

Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player of the Year): CB A.J. Harris, DT Zane Durant

Outland Trophy (Interior Lineman of the Year): DT Zane Durant, G Vega Ioane

Jim Thorpe Award (Best Defensive Back): None

Wuerffel Trophy (Community Service Award): OL Cooper Cousins

Paul Hornung Award (Most Versatile Player): WR Trebor Peña

Walter Camp (Player of the Year): QB Drew Allar, RB Nick Singleton