Oct. 15, 2001
By Tom Musgrave – Host Communications
Senior wide receiver Dougie Allen has seen a lot in his three years as a Wildcat. He has been through a coaching change and persevered through multiple injuries his junior year. Still, he stands tall in this, his final year of eligibility, optimistic about the new direction of Kentucky football.
“This is a big step for the Kentucky football program with the staff we have now,” Allen said. “(The coaches) care so much about football and they motivate us and really push us to give everything we have in the game. That’s definitely good for the program and that’s going to show. If not before the year is over, then it’s going to show the year after and continue to show after that.”
As a product of Lexington’s Dunbar High School, Allen has always commanded a local following at games. He said that show of support continues to give his game a boost, even though his high school years are seemingly light years behind him. “I do get a lot of support, and it’s great,” Allen said. “I know when they call out starters, you could just hear the fan support from the hometown people. It’s just a good experience.”
And folks weren’t just cheering for Allen because he was a local product. They knew he was good. As a senior at Dunbar, Allen caught 57 passes for 1,070 yards and 12 touchdowns. He helped lead the Bulldogs to a two-year record of 24-4, including a state runner-up finish in 1996 and a berth in the state semifinals in 1997. Allen’s rookie campaign at Kentucky proved to be the start of something great as well.
As a freshman, he saw playing time in every game of the 1998 season, starting once in the Wildcats’ tilt at Arkansas. During the course of the season, he caught 13 passes for 102 yards. His sophomore season in 1999 proved to be a trying one. Allen appeared to be on fire, catching 25 passes for 263 yards in the first five games of the season and emerging as one of the Wildcats’ star receivers and kick returners. But a knee injury in a home game against SEC rival Arkansas ended Allen’s sophomore campaign. Ironically, the injury was sustained when he performed a diving one-handed grab for a 24-yard touchdown reception, which was later judged as the “Best Reception of the Week” in college football.
Allen didn’t let that injury overtake his attitude though, and was back in action for his junior season. “I had to do a lot of rehab to bounce back from my injuries,” Allen said. “I really just thank God. He’s my strength and my source. I depend on Him to help me and to heal my body.”
The 2000 campaign was another successful one for Allen, in spite of a few minor injuries that sidelined him for two games. He grabbed 22 catches for 315 yards and two touchdowns and had a career-high 75-yard reception in the season opener at Louisville. Even with the injuries he’s suffered the last two years, Allen has no trepidation about giving his all in his final campaign as a Wildcat.
“I don’t worry about getting injured again, because if it happens, it happens,” Allen said. “I don’t go out there and try to prevent myself from getting hurt. I just go out and try to play the best I can.” That outlook on the game also helps in Allen’s role as team co-captain with Ronnie Riley. “As a captain, I’m expected to be a leader on the team,” Allen said. “That’s something I take very personally and seriously.
“I’m one of the guys the team will look to when it comes to speaking and getting the team going,” he continued. “If things are going sloppy in practice, I’m one of the players who needs to speak up.”
As well as being a team leader, Allen is also looked to among the Wildcat receiving corps. As a veteran, his playing experience is a valuable tool for the underclassmen. “A lot of guys respect me as a receiver just because I have a lot of experience there. And I pretty much know every position, so if anybody needs advice or opinions, I’m always there,” Allen said. “A lot of guys come to me when they have questions. That only comes from experience.”
But he acknowledges you don’t get that level of respect without a lot of work and study of those who came before you. Allen claims he learned the receiving trade from some of the best. “I kind of took eyes on all the receivers that were here when I first came to UK,” Allen said. “Of course, there’s Craig Yeast. He’s a guy you always watched to see how he was running his routes. Then we had Quentin McCord and Jimmy Robinson – both guys who run good routes. I just took my share of watching everybody.”
Studying and working hard at executing the game has paid off for Allen and the receivers, and he really sees it in this year’s batch. “As time goes on, you’re going to see a much more consistent group of guys,” Allen noted. “Already we’ve cut down on the number of guys going into the game, so each position can kind of get a feel for the game. That’s going to help out tremendously. We’re really going to execute the offense the way we’re supposed to.”
Now that he is in his senior year, thoughts of post-college plans are on his mind. The hospitality management major acknowledges that playing in the NFL would be nice, but he also has other plans he’d like to pursue. “I wouldn’t mind owning my own restaurant one day and just be a great man in the community,” Allen said. “I really don’t think about money and stuff like that. I just want to raise a good family and do good for the community.”
A lifelong resident of Kentucky, Allen admits he wouldn’t mind going away for a while “just to see the rest of the country.” But in the end, he sees Lexington as a place in which he could be content. “I’d like to stay here. My family is here and I’m really close to them,” Allen said. “The town is not too big, not too small. And having grown up here, I see things I’d like to do for the younger people so that they have something to do rather than get in trouble. That’s the drive I have – just knowing and seeing where I can make a difference.”
Allen hasn’t waited until graduation to start making a difference. In his career as a Wildcat, he has involved himself in several local charity activities and donated his time in Lexington schools. He has been a celebrity waiter at the Leukemia Luncheon, participated in the Schoolhouse Rock, an academic pep rally for area fourth- and fifth-graders, lent his name and image for public service announcements about the balance between academics and athletics and served as a mentor in the Mashburn Excel Scholarship Mentor Program, a scholarship Allen himself earned while in high school.
Allen’s career at UK has held many trials and tribulations. This year will signify the end of his collegiate career, something about which he has mixed feelings. “I kind of wish I had another year (of eligibility),” Allen said. “I don’t know about most players, but you always feel like you want to prove something. And you always wish you had one more year to show everybody the kind of player that you know you are. So in that respect I do wish I had one more year. “But it’s been a fun three years so far,” Allen admits. “I’m just trying to make the best out of this last year and really go out with a bang.”
