Armando Allen might be the toughest player to figure out on the Notre Dame roster.
Like so many of his junior classmates, Allen arrived with much fanfare and heavy expectations to bring immediate and huge dividends. ??Promotions of breakaway touchdown runs and long kickoff returns were posted all over the Internet when Notre Dame landed the top prep player out of talent-rich Dade County in south Florida.
Allen showed flashes this spring of being ready to break out for the Irish in 2009.
Allen and Julius Jones (1999) are considered the swiftest running back recruits for Notre Dame in the last decade. As evidence, Allen’s 4.38 time in the 40-yard dash checked out as the best among 550 competitors at the 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl junior combine.
And that is what has made Allen’s very gradual improvement almost frustrating to Notre Dame fans.
Is he being used properly? Does he need more touches? Is he as gifted as advertised? We’ll find out this season.
We said at this time last season that Allen needed 500 rushing yards, 200 receiving yards and a kickoff return average of at least 25 yards for a successful season. Allen eclipsed all of those marks but his sophomore season still felt somewhat hollow, mainly because we’re all still waiting on more big plays.
Allen recorded a 41-yard reception against Hawaii in the bowl game, but other than that, he’s had only two career plays from scrimmage – rushing or receiving – that have gone for more than 20 yards, a 21-yard run against Purdue and a 21-yard reception against Stanford last season.
To Allen’s defense, a broken fibula kept him from playing as a high school senior, so Allen admitted that his freshman year at Notre Dame was more about recovery and re-familiarizing himself with the game than it was trying to become a game-breaker. But the time has come.
Allen showed what he is capable of in the Hawaii Bowl with 184 all-purpose yards and a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, only the third touchdown of his career. The hope is that Allen’s performance will serve as launch point because given the number of offensive weapons on this team, Allen could find himself in mismatches against linebackers all season. He just needs to quit going down so easily to improve on that 4.2 per-carry average.
In talking to Allen this spring, it was obvious he is more comfortable in his own skin this time around. Instead of talking about fitting in and growing in the system, Allen said his focus was on having a bust-out season and evolving into a team leader.
“Just bringing energy to the field, not only for myself but for other people to feed off of, and I think I have worked hard with that,” said Allen, adding that two full years in the program have increased his assuredness this spring. “It allows me to bring energy to everybody else because I have that confidence in myself that I can get it done now, so that’s been important for me.”?
Allen’s versatility as a runner and a receiver will give Weis and the offensive staff unlimited options to use his game-breaking abilities this season. The objective during fall camp needs to be designing ways to get Allen the ball more in open space, an approach many of us have calling for the last two full seasons.
What’s A Good Season?
The answer to that really depends on exactly how Allen is used.
With James Aldridge moving to fullback, Allen should see his carries increase from the 11 per game he got last season, but at 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, don’t expect him to become a workhorse. It doesn’t fit his style anyway.
We’d like to see Allen and Robert Hughes used together more – kind of a repeat of the “Boom and Zoom” backfield combination the Irish featured 20 years ago with power back Tony Brooks and the elusive Ricky Watters. This setup would allow the shiftier Allen to go in motion out of the backfield and become a flanker, creating a nightmare matchup for opposing defenses.
Measuring a good season for Allen statistically might be more about improving averages than raw production. Allen is averaging only 4.8 yards on his 294 touches from scrimmage for his career. That needs to be closer to seven yards this season.
And as far as a kick returner, the average needs to improve as well. Take out the 96-yarder against Hawaii, and Allen averaged only 22.4 yards on his other 20 tries.
About 1,000 yards from scrimmage – 700 rushing and 300 receiving – would be nice production from Allen, especially if Hughes can hold up his end of the one-two punch. Five or more touchdowns would also be a solid mark, and a terrific mark if one or two come on kickoff returns.
All that is fine, but Allen came to Notre Dame as a game-changing, big-play kind of player, and that’s what the Irish need more of. One career play from scrimmage of more than 40 yards and only three of more than 20 yards isn’t good enough for a game-breaker.
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