by Bo Marchionte
Twitter @BoMarchionte

In 2018, Marcus Allen was leaving Penn State to pursue a career in the National Football League. That April, days before the NFL Draft, Allen joined the NFL Draft Blast to share who he was before we knew of him.

“I was more like a physical kid,” Allen said of his adolescent Pop Warner football days. “When I was on offense, I would try to truck somebody (laughing). When I was on defense, I would try to lay somebody out.”

That was the player the Nittany Lions watched roam the field during his time in Happy Valley. Allen easily became one of top physical and intimating safeties in college football. Although those days of playing safety might have past him as he is adjusting to a new position with the Steelers.

Pittsburgh is now trying to synchronize Allen’s physical nature and mold it into a every down linebacker in the National Football League.

“Where we got him right now is a pretty good role,” Keith Butler said of the Allen. “We like him in passing situations. He’s still learning the linebacker position. Normally he’s been in the secondary most of his career especially at Penn State.”

Against Cincinnati, Allen had a career best 20 defensive plays and recorded two tackles (one solo/one assist). Modest production as he learns the nuances of the position and steadily finding his way on the field more in his third season. Playing on one of the league’s top defensive with a unblemished overall record, requires Allen maximize his limited opportunities. 

“I like it a lot,” Allen said of the switch from safety to linebacker. “I’m open to it. I am willing to get better at everything. I am just excited to get this opportunity here and have this position, especially with a team that I always wanted to be part of.”

During his collegiate career, Allen became just the sixth Nittany Lion to reach 300-plus tackles in their career. His 321 stops rank him fifth in school history. With 17 tackles for loss and three career sacks, it was evident Penn State used him as an in the box safety. That is why the Steelers are trying to sharpen his coverage skills. If they can get Allen to incorporate that into his already physical run defender style, Pittsburgh might have a real contributor.

“He is still learning the linebacker role,” Butler said of Allen. “In terms of how deep he has to drop in coverage. Most of the time we put him in there its situational football, meaning its going to be third (down) or two-minute or something like that. He’s still learning what the linebackers do, in terms of when to blitz or faking like they’re going to blitz.”

It is no secret that the game is allowing for lighter and faster linebackers to make significant impacts for defenses. We have seen safeties morphed into linebackers with success for years now. Think of former Steelers Mark Barron one of the pioneers of changing the way teams use players drafted at safety and then moved to linebacker.

Barron provided the blueprint, now Allen must copy and paste that into his own repertoire.

“I think he’s getting better every week,” Butler said. “We are going to continue to use him.”

Eager to see how this story ends…

Photo Credit Frank Hyatt