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Every year there's a rookie or two that goes undrafted yet beats all odds and makes the Green Bay Packers' 53 man roster.
Last year that player was defensive tackle Daniel Muir. Another notable Packer that went undrafted was Tony Fisher who became the team's third down back in his first season.
This year the early favorite to make the team as an undrafted rookie free agent is wide receiver Jake Allen. So who is this relatively unknown player...?
Allen earned first team All-American honors in Division III while playing at Mississippi College. While there, he set school records in receptions (152), receiving yards (2,867) and receiving touchdowns (26) despite playing for only three seasons.
During the 2007 season alone he caught 61 passes for 1,254 yards and 12 touchdowns.
It looks like Allen has already made his mark with the Packers. During the recently concluded minicamp, he caught the eye of a couple of journalists.
According to Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Jake Allen was the fifth WR in the Packers' Big Five formation at one point ... he's really impressive getting off the line of scrimmage. He's also smooth and can kick it into another gear to get under passes."
Considering the top four wide recievers were Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones and Jordy Nelson, that's really impressive. That means that Allen is already in the rotation ahead of Brett Swain whom the Packers had thought highly enough of to spend a draft choice on. He's also ahead of players like Shaun Bodiford and Chris Francies who have spent time on the regular season 53 man roster in the past.
Allen also caught the eye of the Green Bay Press-Gazette's Tom Pelissero during minicamp.
"Undrafted rookie WR Jake Allen had a nifty, toe-dragging catch along the sideline on a pass from Matt Flynn during the blitz period," wrote Pelissero during one of the team's practices.
There's certainly a long way to for Allen, but he's putting himself in the right position for the moment being.
"I can't tell you how excited I am to get this chance", said Allen. "It's a long way from home, but that's not a concern right now. I have an opportunity to prove that I belong there and I'm gonna make the most of it."
3 comments:
Ruvell Martin? Not a word about him, in this piece, if nothing else he should of been listed in the in people that Allen is a head of.
Also it says,
""Jake Allen was the fifth WR in the Packers' Big Five formation at one point"
Well what about the other points? Who went out when Allen went in?
Did other WR get a shot in the big 5?
I understand the person that wrote this is just working with the info they have, and can find, but it would be nice if someone could find more info, or if next time the reporters gave more info.
Thanks for this piece.
Did a little internet digging. Mississippi College listed him as being 6'4" and 185 lbs. I hope he's added a few pounds since then. He is represented by Bus Cook.
Packers.com list him as 6'4" 190 lbs.
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