‘Now the only question is how high.’ Stoops discusses UK linebacker’s rising draft status.
On a wall in Mark Stoops’ office is a large mural with all of the first-round NFL Draft picks he’s coached at various stops during his coaching career.
The Kentucky coach is going to need to make room on it for Josh Allen in a few months. Kentucky’s senior linebacker has had a monster season with 56 tackles, 14.5 for loss and 10 sacks.
He’s second in the country in sacks and leads the Southeastern Conference and is tied for fourth in the country in tackles for loss.
Allen, a former two-star recruit from Montclair, N.J., also has five quarterback hurries and five forced fumbles along with four pass breakups this season for the Cats, who are tied for the nation’s best scoring defense.
It’s exactly the kind of special season Stoops and Allen discussed when the linebacker was a junior pondering an early jump to the NFL last year.
“I did expect him to come back and be a dominant player,” Stoops said of Allen on Monday as the No. 11 Cats prepare for a showdown with No. 6 Georgia with an SEC East Division title on the line. “I truly knew in my heart that he was a first-round draft pick. I don’t think there’s any question about that now.
“But I knew that going into the year, the talent that he had and the ability that he had. So now the only question is how high, because he moved himself way up, just by the way that he’s playing.”
Allen has also positioned himself for some national awards. The senior was named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award on Monday, which recognizes the top linebacker in the country.
On the same day, also was named a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, which is given to the most outstanding defensive player of the season.
He’s certainly racking up similar awards in the SEC. Allen has played in eight games this season and after half of them, he has received the league’s Defensive Player of the Week award.
His latest came Monday after his 11 tackles and two sacks, both of which caused fumbles, in the Cats’ 15-14 victory at Missouri.
Allen took over the No. 2 spot in Kentucky’s record book for quarterback sacks. He now has 24.5, which moves him past Bud Dupree. He needs two to take the record from Oliver Barnett.. Allen’s 34 career tackles for loss also is second all-time at UK. Dupree, Vincent Burns and Marlon McCree each had 37..
Allen has grown a lot this season, Stoops said.
But Allen also was born with some key intangibles that have helped him along the way.
“He’s versatile, his background playing multiple positions, changing direction, big athlete,” Stoops said. “Length never hurts. … When you have length and you have size, it’s kind of take up space and get in the way but obviously he’s taken that to a whole other level.”
This week’s SEC Defensive Player of the Week will be facing the SEC co-Offensive Player of the Week in Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns versus Florida last week.
▪ Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden earned his own honor Monday from the league when he was named Special Teams Player of the Week for taking his first-ever punt return 67 yards for a touchdown that helped turn the game. Combined with a career day receiving (13 passes for 166 yards), Bowden piled up 239 all-purpose yards. He’s averaging 99.2 all-purpose yards a game.