by Bo Marchionte
Let us go back.
The year is 2017 and Happy Valley is the destination.
A Saturday afternoon at Penn State watching Marcus Allen enforce his will on opponents. For me there was nothing better than this recreation of Kam Chancellor playing in the Big Ten. Allen simply was a man among boys and brought a thumping brutally to anyone who did not wear Nittany Lions attire.
The surreal electric atmosphere of being on the field at Beaver Stadium with NFL Scouts (several times), sharing their affinity for this safety, thirsty to make the big hit. Allen was impossible not to notice and was incredibly easy to admire with his throwback style of play.
He brought energy and was a hard-hitting SOB.
Allen would earn all the accolades of a standout college football player and attended the Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine in route to being selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Let us go back, again.
Fifth-round!
What!
Allen was drafted four rounds after Pittsburgh selected Terrell Edmunds 28th overall (first-round). Edmunds would play next Sean Davis the Steelers second-round selection two years prior to the arrival of both Allen and Edmunds. Probably not the best mindset for a rookie to share the same position as the guy drafted first for the team, but none the less that was the hand dealt to Allen.
It was the beginning of the end of seeing this physical specimen play safety with reckless abandon.
Now we are at a crossroads for Allen.
Entering his third year in the National Football League, Allen is being shown the gateway to a possible blossoming season with the opportunity to play a hybrid role for the Black-N-Gold.
With two career tackles in his career this is a make or break campaign for Allen to remain registered as active in the league.
“The biggest thing is if you like playing football how much you like hitting people,” said Steelers inside linebackers’ coach Jerry Olsavsky via a Zoom media call. “Marcus (Allen) likes hitting people, so playing linebacker is no problem for him. He hasn’t done a lot of drills over his lifetime to play linebacker, but he’s doing a fine job.”
Olsavsky a Youngstown, Ohio native was a 10th round selection in the 1989 NFL Draft out of Pitt brings that no-nonsense throwback style. In today’s NFL Draft the rounds only go to seven which would make Olsavsky a undrafted free agent if he had to revisit that day back in 89’.
He had to fight his ass off the maintain a veteran career in the league. Olsavsky did that by being a professional who loved hitting. That coincides with what Allen loves to do as well – Hit!
Olsavsky just may be the conduit that helps get Allen back to making impact plays.
“Bringing Marcus into my room really pumped up the room. It got all the other guys excited,” Olsavsky stated. “I think it got the defense as a whole excited because now you get to see a guy and say, “Wow, that guy can really do some stuff.” There are things inherently wrong, but the hardest thing about football is running into people. Marcus has no problem doing that, so I have no problem coaching him.”
Olsavsky may enjoy having Allen with his unit because both bring a charismatic energy to the table. During the Zoom call with media Coach Olsavsky was getting us fired up and very rarely (probably never) did a reporter feel like doing push-ups or wind sprints after interviewing a coach. That is the positive vibe Olsavsky carries with him when teaching the linebacking core the tricks of the trade.
“I feel comfortable wherever they want me to play, to be honest,” said Marcus Allen regarding his time learning the position of linebacker. “That linebacker role is nothing different to playing the dime role when I was at Penn State. Coming down, reading the blocks, reading pullers, setting edges, all those things.
Safeties have to do that in general. In today’s football, they come down into the box and add on. So as far as that being new or anything, I wouldn’t say that it is foreign to me or anything. Just regular football.”
Olsavsky spent a decade playing in the National Football League as a utility player. Seeing No. 55 (Olsavsky) play the position outweighed the modest box score results after the game. With 37 starts in his 10-year career (one with Baltimore), his admiration from fans was due to his love for the game.
“I remember when I got into the League, they said it takes a couple years for some players to develop and that’s hopefully what we are seeing right now,” Olsavsky said of Allen’s development. We are going to see Marcus really develop into a real professional. I talked about Vince (Williams) earlier about being professional.
Devin (Bush), as young as he is, does some very professional things on the field. That is why he makes plays like that. Vince does professional things off the field. Marcus has a very professional attitude where he is going to go and run into people. You can’t have enough of those guys on the football team. I’m so happy to have him in my room. It’s not even funny. Maybe that is where I get some of my energy from. So, I have to get my information to these guys and that is why I bring more energy.”
Throughout Coach Olsavsky’s Zoom call, the words energy, hard-hitting and professionalism echoed time and time again. Those seem to be the pillars of his success as a young man leaving the fading steel city conglomerate of Youngstown to embark on a career as a middle linebacker.
Often the players we hold dearest to our hearts are not necessarily the ones with the most endorsement deals. They typically are the players with energy, who love to hit while being professional in doing so. Sound familiar?
Even if Allen’s career is never filled with Pro-Bowl accolades if the organization and fan base recognize the energy, hard-hitting and professional style.
He will have long lasting career in the NFL.
Photo Credit Frank Hyatt