Rams take Dakota Allen LB Texas Tech 251

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/dakota-allen?id=3219414c-4c09-4160-356e-d20a0a6b147d

DAKOTA ALLEN
TEXAS TECH
LB
6′ 1″
232 lbs

Player Bio
Allen was three-star recruit from Humble, Texas, when arriving in Lubbock in 2014. As a redshirt freshman, he looked like a future star with 87 tackles, six for loss, and two interceptions in 12 games (five starts). Allen was dismissed from Tech before the 2016 season after being arrested for home burglary and stealing guns. Those charges were ultimately dismissed. He played at East Mississippi Community College in 2016 while his fate was being determined, earning All-Region honors (117 tackles) and becoming a fitting participant in the “Last Chance U.” series on Netflix. Allen got his second chance after being able to re-enroll at Tech for 2017, leading the team with 102 tackles, six for loss, intercepting two passes, and breaking up four others. He was a first-team all-conference selection his senior year, starting 11 contests after posting 73 tackles, 6.5 for loss, and two pass breakups.

Analysis
By Lance Zierlein
NFL Comparison
Hardy Nickerson, Jr.

Overview
Allen is an inside linebacker with good toughness and intangibles but lacks the speed and instincts teams look for in the middle. He plays with good short-area quickness and a willingness to stick his nose into oncoming traffic in order to leverage his gap and set his teammates up for success. With adequate athleticism and the potential to become a core special teamer, Allen could hear his name called in the later rounds of the draft.

Strengths
Redeemed himself after facing tremendous personal adversity
Elected team captain in both years after his return to the program
Coachable and leads by example with team-first approach
Feet are active and ready post-snap
Rushes downhill, attacking pull and iso blocks to leverage gap and do his part for the scheme
Adequate short-area burst to scrape
Consistent to sink and explode through ball carriers as tackler
Well-conditioned and doesn’t fatigue easily in up-tempo conference
Comfortable dropping in space and mirroring quarterback’s eyes
Soft hands with four career interceptions.

Weaknesses
Instincts need work from the middle
Misses opportunities to go gap-shooting for the tackle for loss
More race than pace in flow to the football
Runs to a spot rather than feeling the ball-carrier’s intentions
Over-commits and misses potential run fits
Below-average slipping and disengaging from blocks
Missing big closing burst in sideline-to-sideline pursuit
Chomps on play-fakes and gets baited out of position

4 things to know about Rams LB Dakota Allen, ‘Last Chance U’ star

4 things to know about Rams LB Dakota Allen, 'Last Chance U' star

The Los Angeles Rams made their final pick in the 2019 draft at 251st overall. With one of the last picks in the draft, they took linebacker Dakota Allen from Texas Tech. Allen has had an interesting journey to the pros, to say the least, and here are four facts you should know:

1. He was a star on Netflix’s ‘Last Chance U’

Allen has a higher public profile than your typical seventh round pick. While playing at East Mississippi Community College, Allen became one of the stars of the Netflix series “Last Chance U.”

The series chronicled talented players who were forced to attend the community college for one reason or another. Allen had originally played at Texas Tech out of high school, but his career was derailed when he was charged with second-degree robbery.

Although charges against him were eventually dismissed, he was kicked off the team at Texas Tech. After going to EMCC and getting all of his issues cleared up, he was accepted back at Texas Tech. Former coaches swear by Allen and his character, and he appears to have figured everything out off the field. As someone who watched the series, I can say Allen comes across as an extremely genuine guy who deserves a second chance.

2. He was a team captain each of the past two seasons

Allen left the team unceremoniously, but he returned triumphantly. It didn’t take long for his teammates or his coaches to accept him back, as he was immediately named a team captain ahead of his first season back in 2017. He was again named a captain last year. Teammates and coaches have raved about his leadership qualities, and one off-field incident from a few years ago shouldn’t distract from that.

3. He was highly decorated in college

Allen received a ton of recognition for his work at Texas Tech. Last season he was a first-team All-Big 12 selection, and was named to preseason watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award, given annually to college football’s best defensive player and linebacker respectively. Allen was also an academic All-Big 12 second team selection last season. In 2017, he was an All-Big 12 second-team honoree.

4. He can play special teams

Allen starred at linebacker at Texas Tech, but that might not be where he makes his mark in the pros. Allen was also a special teams standout with the Red Raiders, which could greatly help his NFL future.

Seventh-round picks need something like that to make them stand out, and this should increase his chances of making the team. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote in his scouting profile of Allen that he had the “potential to become a core special teamer” at the next level. The Rams could also use some depth at inside linebacker however, so he can’t be counted on defense.

Dakota Allen thought he’d never play football again after arrest

Dakota Allen thought he'd never play football again after arrest

Dakota Allen was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the seventh round last weekend. However, he likely would’ve been selected earlier if not for a mistake he made three years ago.

Back in 2016, he was arrested on a second-degree felony count of burglary when he and two others broke into a house and stole two cameras, a TV and a safe that contained seven guns. He was dismissed from Texas Tech and left with few options when it came to playing football.

He enrolled at East Mississippi Community College where he would be able to continue his football career in hopes of one day making it to the NFL. But before going to EMCC, he thought he’d never play football again.

“Oh, yeah. Absolutely,” Allen told reporters after the draft when asked if he thought his football career was over. “When I first left Texas Tech, I thought I was never going to play football again. That’s why I was so grateful and thankful for the opportunity that East Mississippi provided me. Then once I got that opportunity, I just took it and ran with it. I honestly can’t believe I’m an L.A. Ram.”

Allen returned to Texas Tech where Kliff Kingsbury gave him another opportunity. He was a captain both years after going back to the Red Raiders and made 162 total tackles, playing 23 games from 2017-18.

At the combine and in interviews with teams, he was understandably and predictably asked about the incident in 2016.

“Normally when I talked about it, I was just open and honest, and I told them what I learned from it,” Allen said. “Their reaction to it was, ‘Everybody makes mistakes. As long as you learn from it, as long as you grow from it, and as you long as you don’t make the same mistake twice.’ So, that’s the most reaction I got.”

Allen’s name has become recognizable, as evidenced by the day he was drafted. He appeared on Netflix’s “Last Chance U” series, which many fans on Twitter recognized him from. Even Sean McVay said, “Hey, isn’t that the guy from Last Chance U?” when Allen’s name came up.

Allen is grateful and thankful for getting the chance to be on the show because EMCC allowed him to keep playing football.

“Honestly, it was a weird experience, but also a great experience. People do recognize me from the show. They recognize me as sort of the good guy on the show,” Allen said with a laugh. “The whole experience was just amazing and I’m thankful for it because I was able to continue playing football.”

Allen isn’t guaranteed to make the roster and even when he does, he’ll likely have to prove himself on special teams. But just getting the chance to play in the NFL is something he’s thankful for after his mistake three years ago.

Sounds like a solid late-round pick.

I like my linebackers to have ‘place’ names. Like London.

w
v

Dakota is a native name meaning friend or ally.

I know this will be taken as possibly blasphemous…but Dakota Allen sounds like he just might be as good as another 7th rounder the Rams picked back in 2002.

w
v
Wiki:
Massey was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round (243rd overall) in the 2002 NFL Draft. During his career he has made clean snaps on 702 out of 703 attempts including a run of 528 consecutive clean snaps.

He was released on August 22, 2011.
CM:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Massey

zn wrote:

wv wrote:

clean snaps on 702 out of 703 attempts

EVERYONE who deifies Massey ignores that miss. 702 does not = 703.

I suspect it was his hand. But he refused to acknowledge the hand was an issue. In fact, it never comes up–at all, ever, in any context. Yet that’s probably what led to the downward spiral, and thus the season-destroying failure I just mentioned.

…

————————–

It was a tragedy, alright. Worse than the Scott Norwood miss, for sure.

Unlike you though, i’m not a Massey-Blamer. It was the system; I blame capitalism.

w
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wv wrote:

At about 6:10 of the video — “character arts.”

What are ‘character arts’ ?

w
v

I think that was a typo in the subtitles (which happens a lot with youtube vids). I think that’s supposed to be “character arcs,” not “arts.”