LITTLE ROCK — Long before Fayetteville quarterback Brandon Allen made his oral commitment to Arkansas on Feb. 17, his father, Arkansas defensive tackles coach Bobby Allen, realized his son had a chance to play on the major college level.
Allen, 6-2, 200 pounds, 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash, completed 246 of 432 passes for 3,375 yards and 30 touchdowns with only 5 interceptions last season. That came after he completed 251 of 434 passes for 3,285 yards and 30 touchdowns as a sophomore.
Allen received a scholarship offer from Arkansas a few weeks before the start of his junior season and most likely would have received numerous offers from others, but colleges backed off because his father is on the Razorbacks staff.
Bobby Allen said it was during one of his son’s ninthgrade games at Woodland Junior High that he saw something special .
“He completed all the throws that night,” said Bobby Allen, who is entering his 13th season on the Arkansas coaching staff. “If he had tothrow the ball deep, if he had to throw the ball across the middle into tight coverage, he was just on. I just walked away that night and said, ‘Wow.’
“There was something to him that night. I know he was my son, but I felt like if he could continue to progress and play at that level, I thought he had a chance.”
The younger Allen had thoughts of scoring touchdowns on the ground, not through the air, going into junior high.
“We had a good running back, so I was like, ‘I guess I’ll try quarterback,’ ” Brandon Allen said. “I guess my sophomore year, maybe ninth grade, I thought, ‘I can play this position.’ ”
Allen said he knows it’s a challenge for his father andmother, Marcela, to attend all of his games, but he is appreciative of their efforts.
“It’s always nice to see my dad and mom in the stands,” he said. “They try to make as many of my games as they can, but they have four kids playing athletics so it’s hard for them to get around a lot.”
No question Brandon Allen has that “it” factor his father saw early on in his son’s career.
“He’s always had a quietmaturity about him, not cocky, but he wasn’t going to be afraid to compete,” Bobby Allen said. “If it didn’t work out for him on certain days, he took it hard, but on other days he learned from it and would come back and compete harder.”
Bobby Allen, who played quarterback at Virginia Tech in the early 1980s, taught Brandon and his younger brother Austin, who will be a sophomore at Fayetteville in the fall, the fundamentals of playingthe position. He showed them the proper grip and helped them work on their footwork and release at an early age in the back yard.
“That was probably the two biggest things I tried to work on with Brandon and Austin as young kids, learning the importance of having a quick release and trying to work your feet,” Allen said. “Now that he’s had a chance to go to camps and be around Coach [Garrick] McGee and Coach [Bobby] Petrino, he’s really understanding the importance of that.”
Brandon Allen acknowledged that fathers do know best.
“He knows what he’s talking about,” Allen said. “That’s how I learned how to throw.”
Bobby Allen said he is looking ahead to when Brandon arrives on campus as a Razorback.
“When we get out and he has his helmet on and we’re practicing, he’s another football player,” Allen said. “He’s another Arkansas Razorback, and I’m going to treat him in that way. Obviously, he’s going to be my son and when he gets off the field I’m going totreat him like my son.”
Bobby Allen said believes his son has a strong upside, especially considering he will only be focusing on football in college.
“He’s never really had a chance to go year around working at quarterback because he does play other sports,” Allen said. “I think he’s a little more athletic than people thought.”
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansaso nline.com
Sports, Pages 29 on 06/27/2010