Mike Allen is not your typical kicker. In fact, UW’s kicker would rather not think of himself in those terms at all.
“I’m not one of those head cases like a lot of other kickers are,” he said. “Some of that is just a stereotype a lot of kids have. I’m not. I just go with the flow; I’m a chill kind of guy. Whatever happens happens.”
If it had been up to Allen, he probably would never have become a kicker.
“I actually grew up in Minneapolis and played soccer all my life,” Allen said. “Then I moved to Prescott, Wisc., in high school. Prescott didn’t have a soccer team, and I didn’t really want to play football. I didn’t just want to go out and play kicker — that’s stupid, it’s a crappy position. They get no love.”
Allen eventually caved to the temptation and began playing football in his sophomore year, lining up for Prescott at wide receiver and defensive back. Then he began to see his potential as a kicker.
“I started to realize, ‘I can actually do something with this,'” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to this point … I thought, ‘Okay, kicking is over. Now it’s time to go to college.’ And then it ended up working out where I was getting calls from coaches … a few scholarship offers came up, and I decided to walk on here. Best decision of my life so far.”
He further bucked the kicking trend by wrestling for most of his high school career before an injury.
“I wrestled my whole life, and then in high school, wrestling my junior year I ended up breaking my arm — I fractured my left arm. I was out for the season,” he said. “Then I just said, ‘I’m done with wrestling. I’ve wrestled too long.’ I had wrestled for 10 years before that. I guess not too many kickers are wrestlers.”
Although he may not have planned to kick, the junior’s laidback attitude is a perfect fit for the position, allowing him to rebound from missed opportunities, whether on the football field or in the classroom.
“It’s over with. You can’t do anything about it, so move on,” Allen said. “That’s my attitude with everything. You fail a test — it’s over. Hopefully I don’t do too many of those. If you dwell on things that you did wrong in the past, you’re screwed. You can’t change it. Move on, and make yourself better.”
It’s not just the missed kicks that are erased from Allen’s memory. The made field goals hold little significance as well, including the 37-yarder he nailed in overtime to beat No. 14 Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, perhaps the biggest kick in school history.
“It was great to have that, but really it didn’t matter,” he said. “I don’t care that I did that. That was then, however many months ago.”
What got Allen more excited was that after two years of parttime duty, the placekicking duties were finally his. In 2001, he saw limited action, hitting six of nine field goals and eight of 10 extra points. The following season in 2002, he connected on 12 of 19 field goals and all 30 of his PATs.
When he finally got his chance, Allen suffered an untimely hip injury on his kicking leg.
“I was kicking some long field goals, 55-yard field goals with a couple of the other guys, and I just felt something pull, and I kept kicking with it for the next couple of days, probably three or four days,” he said. “After a while, when I couldn’t walk on it, that’s when I realized it wasn’t just a little tweak, it was something serious.”
The torn muscle sidelined Allen for the first three games of the season. Even though he was not completely healthy, he was forced into action against North Carolina after Scott Campbell sustained a foot injury. While he made only one field goal, Allen came up with one of the most memorable plays of his Wisconsin career: a fumble recovery.
“Oh boy, I got my hands on the ball for once. It was great,” he said. “That was cool, I thought that was pretty neat. In college I’ve never been able to get my hands on the football, because I’m always kicking the damned thing. I was lucky this time to get that recovery. It wasn’t anything special, but I’m happy I was in the right spot at the right time.”
Since his return, he has made three of four field goals. He will look to continue his success Saturday against Ohio State, a game Allen and the entire state of Wisconsin is ready for.
“Oh boy, it’s on,” he said. “It’s on, baby. It’s on, it’s going to be a great game. Oh, my dear Lord, that student section is going to be crazy. It’s going to be so sweet. I’m going to be so excited to see that.”
