Northern Guilford wide receiver/safety Keenan Allen has chosen Alabama over Clemson and Oregon.
“The biggest reason was the coaches,” Allen’s dad Scott Lang said a moment ago. “(Assistant coach) Bo Davis followed up after his visit and checked on him all the time. There was no pressure at all, but Keenan just really liked him and the other Alabama coaches.”
Allen, ranked No.2 on The Observer’s Top 25 NC Prospects list, is perhaps the best pure athlete in the Carolinas.
Check out these numbers, straight from Northern Guilford coach Johnny Roscoe, who also used Allen part-time at RB:
“He had 15 rushing touchdowns, 11 receiving, three on punt returns, two on interceptions an one on a kickoff, for a total of 32. For what it’s worth, he also had six two-point conversions.
“On defense, he was over 90 tackles with six interceptions—four of those went for touchdowns. He also had three tackles for loss, two caused fumbles, one recovered fumble and a sack.”
Alabama plans to use Allen at WR, so I asked Roscoe if he thought that would be Allen’s best college position.
“He’s one of the very few players who can play wherever he wants in college,” Roscoe said. “He’s got that kind of ability.”
Allen led Northern Guilford into the playoffs with a 10-1 record.
“As good as he is, I like him better as a person than a player,” Roscoe said.
“Alabama is getting a player who will help their team, because he’s a team player first.”
While we mentioned his three finalists, Allen had “30, maybe 35 offers,” said Lang.
“Everybody offered him. North Carolina and N.C. State were in there; we visited and talked to some great coaches at those places.”
Finally, though, the Crimson Tide rolled over the rest of the contenders.
--Stan Olson
Monday, November 9, 2009
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5 comments:
Bench warmer on that squad.
Agreed! When will these athletes understand and get good advice that they will be competing with the best and lucky at best, to even play. Very few, if any have done so (excl. Massaquoi and Spikes - do not include Cox as he is struggling and GA has no other options). I would tell these guys to go where you will be noticed, become a star (confidence building) and potentially leave a legacy. That was the advice I received and it was the best decision I made.
It makes good business sense to me. Why not play for a coach that can better prepare you for your future goal (NFL) while consistently playing on a team that is in contention for a national championship?
Do you really think Keenan Allen was not aware of the talent that already exists at Alabama? I am sure that he was, but for the best there is always room at the top.
He'll go to a school where he will receive great coaching, have a chance to win championships, and have a great chance to get to the NFL if he's good enough.
Not sure if anyone realized that Alabama has put 22 more players into the NFL than UNC since inception of NFL. It seems to me that this is a simple example (insert your own comparisons) that if you have talent, you will get noticed or more importantly, you will play at the next level. Agreed that AL has a better chance at national championship, but for the better players, it has to be about the next level. You can go anywhere for that, but to play and leave a legacy would be much greater.
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