Drew Allar just confused all Penn State fans if latest rumors are true

Douglas Santo

Drew Allar just confused all Penn State fans if latest rumors are true image

Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar is signing a name, image, likeness deal with NIKE, according to NIKE's social media. However, this comes days after news broke that Penn State is working on a new deal that would switch its apparel partnership from NIKE to adidas.

Allar signed the deal on Thursday, and the terms of that deal are not available. However, on Friday, Penn State announced it's new 10-year partnership with adidas, which will start on July 1, 2026, according to The Athletic's Ben Jones.

It's an odd sequence of events when the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback signs with NIKE while the the university is in the middle of working on a deal with adidas, and that deal is now complete.

Allar Signs With Nike, Penn State Agrees to Deal With Adidas

Penn State has been a NIKE school for more than four decades, but starting on July 1, 2026, the Nittany Lions will be an adidas school.

However, what will happen with Allar and his new NIKE deal? Nobody knows yet.

This is Allar's second major NIL deal in recent weeks. The Penn State quarterback also signed a deal with American Eagle recently and participated in a photo-shoot featuring Kansas City Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce.

"It was a great experience. I had a great time meeting all the people involved in that and really getting to see the behind-the-scenes sort of thing. It’s really cool to be a part of a project like that," Allar said. "I’m really excited for all the things that it will bring, for sure, but it was definitely a blessing to be a part of that."

With the signing of his NIL deal with NIKE, Allar now joins Alabama's Ryan Williams, former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Iowa's Caitlin Clark as the other college athletes Nike has struck deals with.

Allar and the Nittany Lions will continue their 2025 season on Saturday against Florida International University.

Douglas Santo

Douglas Santo is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. As a senior at Arizona State University, he will complete his B.A. in sports journalism with a minor in business in December 2025. Before his time with Sporting News, Douglas covered the NFL and MLB for Athlon Sports and contributed as a digital reporter for Arizona PBS/Cronkite News. He is also the head of Sun Devil Daily, managing all content produced about Arizona State Sports.