Gazette MVP: Medina's Drew Allar could have done it all, but he focused on football

The worst-kept secret in Medina County history is that Medina quarterback Drew Allar is The Gazette's MVP for the 2021 high school football season. But did you know that the summer before his freshman year he was throwing 80-plus-mph fastballs — and only fastballs — in travel league baseball games? Did you know that he often struck out the first two hitters on six straight heaters, then walked the next three, sometimes on 12 pitches? Did you know that he not only would have been a very good pitcher at Medina but also a sweet-shooting, 6-foot-5, 230-pound power forward on the basketball team? Most important of all, did you know that the Penn State recruit and winner of Ohio's coveted Mr. Football award never played quarterback until he was a ninth-grader? "I remember the summer before our freshman year he missed one of our travel baseball games because he had to work out with his throwing coach," Buckeye senior running back/linebacker/kicker and Citadel recruit Ben Barnes said with a chuckle. "I'm thinking, 'You're not going to play.' Now he's Mr. Football and going to Penn State." Allar, who played running back and linebacker in youth leagues and middle school, ended up winning the starting quarterback job on the Medina freshman team. Under coach John Pilarski, he slung the ball all over the field to receivers Keon Johnson, Jajuan Jackson, Drew Hensley, Michael Rodak and Matt Rudolph as the Bees went undefeated. "I wanted to give it a try," said Allar, who as a senior threw for a county-record 4,444 yards and 48 touchdowns as Medina went 13-1, reached the Division I, Region 1 final for the second straight season and won the Greater Cleveland Conference to capture its first league title in 48 years. "My dad (Kevin) was my coach in youth football and he didn't want me to play quarterback. We didn't want it to be perceived that I was playing because my dad was the coach. Plus, I was one of the bigger kids on the team, so I ended up playing fullback and blocking for (Luke) Petrowski and Andrew Gormley." Gormley, now a touted pitcher at Walsh Jesuit, also was the quarterback at Medina's Claggett Middle School, which lost just one game over those two seasons. Petrowski, a senior monster back and baseball player at Brunswick, has been good friends with Allar since they went to preschool together at The Young Scholar. "I knew he was a good athlete," Petrowski said. "I mean, he was huge when he was in fifth grade, but I had no idea he could throw a ball 70 yards effortlessly. It was definitely surprising." Petrowski may not have known how far Allar could throw a football, but he had full knowledge how hard he could throw a baseball. Teammates on the Yetis, he stood in the hot summer sun as his friend struck out or walked hitter after hitter. "He'd just go up there and throw as hard as he possibly could," Petrowski said. "Some games he'd be on and it would be 1-2-3. Other games he was all over the place, but he was definitely fast." Barnes, who served as Allar's catcher, can vouch for that. "Drew made my hand sting a lot," he said. "He probably threw mid-80s the summer before his freshman year. He brought some heat." Allar laughed when told of his former teammates' memories. "I only threw fastballs," he said. "I either struck people out or walked them. I'd strike out the first two kids on six pitches, then I'd walk two people, then I'd go to a full count on the next kid. I'd get so frustrated because I'd be doing so well, and then it would just go away." Allar was more consistent when it came to basketball. Beginning in grade school, he played on a SMAC Akron team coached by Ken Johnson, the father of longtime friend Keon. One of his teammates in the early years was Highland senior quarterback, small forward and second baseman Aaron Filips, who also played a bit of travel baseball with Allar, who gave up basketball after playing on the Medina junior varsity as a freshman and sophomore. Like Petrowski and Barnes, Filips continues to stay in touch with Allar. Along with Stow quarterback Owen Bainbridge and Berea-Midpark signal caller Luke Devins, Filips and Allar also share the same quarterback coach in Brad Maendler. "Drew's very genuine and it's easy to have a conversation with him," Filips said. "If I have a question, he'll answer it or give me tips. He's just a great guy all around." Bainbridge, a Bowling Green recruit, can vouch for that. When his parents couldn't attend an Elite 11 football camp in Indianapolis over the summer, Kevin Allar looked out for him on the trip, and he eventually became close with Dawn Allar as well. "If you talk to Drew, he will not mention one thing about the success he's had," Bainbridge said. "He's very humble and down to earth. Even the family, they're super humble. They're the nicest people ever. "Last summer we started lifting together and going through the same strength program, and that's when he started to blow up (recruiting-wise). We talked about all of it, but during it all, whenever he would get an offer, he wouldn't say anything. That's just the type of kid he is. I would be the one to bring it up." Speaking of bringing it up, early in his junior year Allar completed 41-of-72 passes for 502 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw four interceptions — one was on a tipped ball and another was on a Hail Mary — as the Bees lost 28-21 to Petrowski and Brunswick. "I was messing around with him before that game, saying, 'We're going to smoke you guys, blah, blah, blah,'" Petrowski said. "He was dealing with an ankle injury, but I was amazed how fast the ball got out of his hands. I was like, 'Geez-oh-man, this is going to be a long game.' "When we won, from the end of that game until the game this year, I'd let him know about it at least once a week. At first, he'd get upset or say we got lucky. Eventually, he got sick of hearing it, so he stopped responding to my texts." Allar got his revenge this season, completing 31-of-47 for 349 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions as Medina beat Brunswick 35-14. "Unlike me, he took the high road and kept his mouth closed," Petrowski said with a laugh. That's the way Allar has always been, which is one of many reasons he remains popular with former teammates turned competitors. As a senior, Highland's Filips had 171 rushes for 1,126 yards and 17 touchdowns and completed 94-of-148 passes for 1,400 yards and 17 more scores — he was the third quarterback in school history to rush and pass for 1,000 in a season — but he knew that with Allar around there was never much chance he was going to be Gazette MVP. "It's hard not to pay attention because he was everywhere," said Filips, a second-team D-II All-Ohio pick. "He's a fantastic player and a great kid. I was seeing all over my (Twitter) feed and in the papers what he was doing. He accomplished great things. It wasn't really a goal of mine (to be MVP), but I knew going in that Drew was going to be really tough to beat out." So did Buckeye's Barnes, a first-team D-III All-Ohio selection who rushed 283 times for 1,320 yards and 17 touchdowns, had an incredible 26 tackles for loss among his 102 tackles and kicked six field goals and 32 extra points. "Before the season even started, I was talking to my dad about (Gazette MVP) and I said, 'They're going to give it to Allar,'" Barnes said. "He's the best quarterback in the nation, so how can you not? We knew it coming in." If he couldn't win it, Barnes was glad Allar did. "Drew's super nice," he said. "He's very humble. You wouldn't even know he has all this going for him. If you saw him on the street, you'd just think he was this really tall person walking around." That's exactly the way Allar wants it, and that's the way he plans to continue to carry himself when he heads off to Penn State on Jan. 9. "I just wanted to win a state championship and I didn't want anything to affect that," he said. "I couldn't have done anything without my teammates and coaches. "It was really cool to see all these local kids have such good seasons and their schools have such good seasons. It's cool to see none of us went to other schools. We did it in our hometowns." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.