Irma Colasurdo
October 11, 2017
Light it up! New gym offers fun, friendly environment
October 11, 2017
I’m not a college coach, but I’d like to think that I know quite a bit about football.
I’m not a college scout, but I’d like to think that I have a decent idea of college-level talent and players who are capable of excelling at the next level.
So for all of those reasons, I’d like to give a little tip to every, single college coach in the country.
Offer South Lafourche halfback Corbin Allen a scholarship. Do it today. Don’t wait un til tomorrow or until the end of the season.
This kid is doing some special things right now on the football field for the Tarpons, and it’s a damned shame that he doesn’t yet have a formal scholarship offer on record.
Allen is a halfback – an awfully good one.
He’s been on the field for the Tarpons since his freshman season.
By the time the season ends, he may be the all-time leading rusher in the history of the South Lafourche football program.
Sure, that’s skewed because a lot of the great Tarpon players from the 1960s-90s didn’t go to school there as ninth graders.
But Allen is also on pace to break the single-season rushing record for the Tarpons and is on a torrid pace that’s made him a consensus pick to be considered one of the top seniors in the Class of 2018.
And now, it’s time for the man to get his due and solidify his home for the next four seasons.
It’s not just lip service or padded stats from a runheavy offense.
Allen looks the part of a college football player.
He’s a little south of 6-foot tall, but he’s a pretty big guy.
Last year, Allen was about 170 pounds, but after an injury-plagued junior season, he beefed up significantly and is awfully close to 200 pounds – if not more than that.
But he carries the weight well.
Allen is a bruising, physical downhill runner. At contact, he falls forward and the linebacker falls backward. That’s an asset.
When past the line of scrimmage and into open field, Allen possesses breakaway speed and the ability to run past – or at least even with defensive backs who are in pursuit.
Several of his touchdown runs this season have been 60-plus-yard scores. At the end of those runs, he’s leaving the cornerbacks and safeties in the dust.
But more importantly than the physical tools are the intangibles and this season, Allen has worked on a lot of those things and has become a very refined player.
Early in his career, Allen was not a patient runner. He’d hit the hole too fast and run into his linemen, often costing himself yardage and opportunities to get down the field for big plays.
But after an offseason spent watching film and doing drills, Allen’s vision is much better. Instead of impatiently going forward, he sees the field well, waits for the hole to develop and hits it.
On film, you can often see him patiently picking through the line of scrimmage and then working up the field. The long touchdown runs make the highlight tapes, but the meat and potatoes are the shorter runs that keep the Tarpons ahead of the chains and moving down the field. On a lot of Allen’s three, four and five-yard runs, he’s hit at the line of scrimmage, but uses his footwork to push forward enough to gain yardage.
That’s a big deal – especially at the next level.
But Allen has good hands, too.
Out of the backfield, he’s a gifted receiver who can run adequate routes to help with some checkdowns in the passing game.
Allen is also playing some spot defensive back this season, and on Friday night against Assumption, he made an interception deep down the field in the fourth quarter to help the Tarpons seal their fourth win of the season.
In today’s game where spread offenses are so prevalent, halfbacks can’t be one dimensional. They have to be able to catch the football out of the backfield to have a chance to keep progressing in their careers. Allen has that skillset. His pass blocking could use a little bit of work, but his ball skills are at a high level.
So now, it’s time to get some offers.
I don’t expect Allen to get any looks from the major conferences, but it’s ridiculous that Nicholls, McNeese, Southeastern or Northwestern State haven’t gotten in on this kid yet.
At press-time, he has 997 rushing yards in six games – all while playing both ways.
With four games to go, there’s a very real possibility that he will re-write the school’s record books and become the single-season and all-time leading rusher in the program.
Guys like that shouldn’t have their careers end on Friday nights.
No way!
Offer this kid up, Coach Rebowe or someone else in the state of Louisiana.
You have my word. All he does is make plays.
You won’t regret it. It’s better to have him on your side than to be against him.
