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Apr. 3—MORGANTOWN — Tyler Allen’s road to where he is now was full of stops and starts, bumps and potholes that probably resemble the country roads he now uses as West Virginia’s new quarterbacks coach. Allen was promoted to the Mountaineers’ quarterbacks coach this off-season after spending the last two seasons as an offensive analyst.
“I’ve known for a long time I wanted to coach, ” Allen said. “Even back in high school, in my off time, I just liked helping younger people.”
Allen was also at WVU in 2019 as a graduate assistant coach. Between his stints in Morgantown, Allen spent two seasons as the quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville State and one as an assistant offensive line coach at Rice.
Moving around every couple of years and even returning to a place you’ve already been is business as usual for assistant coaches climbing the ranks of college football. Where the twists and turns in Allen’s story all come, however, is before he was ever paid a dime.
A 2014 quarterback prospect out of St. Stanislaus High School in Bay Saint Louis, Miss., Allen went to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to continue his playing career.
“Out of high school I was really too small, ” he said. “South Alabama always told me they were going to take me after JUCO, as long as I was able to get bigger. I got to about 170 and it just wasn’t happening.”
An ESPN recruiting profile from the time lists Allen at only 148 pounds. A player page on MGCCC’s website eventually has Allen at 175 pounds. However, what ended Allen’s playing wasn’t his size, but injuries to the elbow and shoulder of his throwing arm.
“Playing junior college, I tore up my elbow and it was a decision basically to get surgery or go into coaching, ” he recalled. “After I hurt my elbow, I had chances to walk on at a Group of 5 or go play at an FCS. It was like, what do I…
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/wvu-qb-coach-tyler-allens-023400838.html
Author : The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
Publish date : 2024-04-04 02:34:00
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