In his senior year at Fond Du Lac High School, Braelon Allen became a sensation. Allen, a four-star linebacker committed to Wisconsin, had one of the most dominant seasons Wisconsin high school football had ever seen.
In the seven games Fond Du Lac played that season, Allen made 44 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception as linebacker. This was solid season of Allen defensively, but his offensive accomplishments made it all the more impressive because.
As running back that high school season, Allen ran the ball 71 times for more than 1,000 yards and 23 touchdowns. He averaged nearly 15 yards per carry and stood out to his future college coaches with this impressive stretch of great offense.
Allen arrived in Madison a 17-year-old linebacker mere months before the Badgers opened their 2021 season. In just a handful of weeks during fall camp, Allen continued to progress on the offensive side of the ball, prompting a full time switch from linebacker to running back.
For Wisconsin, this was a significant change. They had essentially lost one of their top recruits. Allen came in as the nation’s 25th best linebacker, according to 247 sports, and was seen as the future anchor of the Wisconsin defense.
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But the coaching staff believed in his abilities and Allen proved to them he belonged in that position.
After beginning the 2021 campaign on special teams, Allen continued to work his way up the depth chart. In a week four game against Illinois Allen finally broke out, rushing for 131 yards on just 18 carries.
This was the first of seven straight games during which the 17-year-old Allen surpassed more than 100 yards rushing.
At the close of last season, after rushing for 159 yards in the bowl game against Arizona State, Allen was one of the Heisman favorites for 2022. The bowl game solidified his odds of winning college football’s most prestigious award to around 20:1.
As the summer progressed, and the season neared, those odds grew higher and higher to around 60:1 when Allen opened the season.
When looking at Allen’s Heisman potential, it is important to note only two running backs and three non-quarterbacks have won the award since 2000. No running back has won the Heisman Trophy since Mark Ingram’s impressive 2009 campaign with Alabama.
Ingram’s season is our best mark for where Allen needs to stand to be firmly in the race for the award.
In 2009, Alabama’s Mark Ingram amassed nearly 2000 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns on more than 300 touches. In 14 games, Ingram averaged more than 21 touches and 6.6 yards per touch — an astonishingly high usage and success rate.
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Last season, in the nine games when Allen played significant snaps, he averaged nearly 22 touches and 7 yards per touch. All while scoring 11 touchdowns.
This nine game stretch is why many bought into the Braelon Allen Heisman stock, as his numbers were among the nation’s best, even as just a freshman.
The big difference between Ingram’s magical 2009 season and Allen’s impressive 2021 season was games played. Ingram was able to maintain his unbelievable pace for 14 games, while Allen played significantly in just nine.
The biggest question for Allen is whether of not he can sustain his pace. It was obvious towards the end of last season he was far from 100%, evident in the last regular season game of the year against Minnesota, when he was limited to just 47 yards rushing on less than three yards per carry.
But Allen has topped the running back charts in terms of depth, an advantage he did not have until last year’s opening day starter Chez Mellusi was injured in Wisconsin’s eighth game.
Two games into this season, Allen is already averaging nearly 19 touches per game, at seven yards per attempt. But, as the season wears on and the level of competition increases, these numbers will almost certainly drop lower.
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Through those two games, Allen’s odds of winning the Heisman have dropped quite a bit despite his numbers matching closely with Mark Ingram’s. Now, his odds hover close to 80:1. These odds are lower than four other running backs in consideration for the trophy.
Allen is far from eliminated from this race but it will certainly be an uphill battle to bring Wisconsin its first Heisman Trophy winner since Ron Dayne in 1999.
