Nebraska football notebook: Husker Allen strong on hardwood, too

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By the Lincoln Journal Star

Nebraska redshirt freshman Pierre Allen, expected to make a push this spring for playing time at base end, was an all-state basketball player at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver.

In fact, he said, he was good enough to attract scholarship offers from basketball powerhouses Syracuse and Michigan State, among others. At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds coming out of high school, he probably would’ve been an excellent small forward at the Division I level.

Now he might just be a power forward.

Since arriving at Nebraska last summer, Allen has gained 50 pounds. He weighed as much as 275 recently before shedding 9 pounds in time for Wednesday’s start of spring practice.

“I put it on quick,” he said. “I put it on so quick that I got real slow and pulled a couple of hamstrings. But I shook a little bit (of weight) off.

“I feel different,” he added. “I actually felt a little slower during winter workouts. It was hard for me to carry all that weight.”

His goal initially was to reach 250 pounds. He said at this point he sometimes gets tired of eating so much.

“I was doing a lot of lifting, drinking a lot of protein shakes, eating a lot,” he said. “I was eating about six, seven meals a day.”

Allen and 6-7, 280-pound Zach Potter of Omaha, also a formidable basketball player at Creighton Prep, are battling to replace Adam Carriker, projected as a first-round NFL Draft pick.

“Potter, he’s a good student of the game,” Allen said. “He knows everything. I can’t knock him at this time because he’s No. 1 and I’m No. 2. I’ve got a lot of work to do, so we’ll see what happens.”

BULLISH ON BYFORD: Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that Brett Byford was able to put a stranglehold on the starting center position last season after senior starter Kurt Mann went down with mononucleosis after starting the first game.

How well did the 6-3, 300-pound Byford respond? Well, Husker offensive line coach Dennis Wagner now touts Byford as an NFL-caliber player. “We couldn’t take him out of games last season, because there was no reason to take him out,” Wagner said. “We feel really good about him up the middle.”

UP NEXT: Nebraska had Thursday off from practice. The Huskers today will have the second of 15 spring practices.

— Steven M. Sipple