|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ROSE BOWL GAME: OREGON v FLORIDA STATEDecember 30, 2014Devon AllenPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Devon, how has the trip been so far? DEVON ALLEN: It's been good! A lot of fun, nice weather. We get to go to the SantaMonica peer, went to Disneyland, comedy club, a lot of things so far. It's cool being out here with the team and getting to enjoy California. Q. Do you know any of the guys from Memphis, Ohio State, or Alabama through track at all? DEVON ALLEN: I know Ronald Darby, I used to run against him in high school track, I heard of Curren Wittfield, never ran against him but he was running the same time I was and there are two freshman on Alabama's team, Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey that do hurdles as well. Q. Have you raced any of those guys? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah. Q. You beat 'em all? DEVON ALLEN: No, Tony beat me when I was a senior in high school. Q. Oh. DEVON ALLEN: They got pretty fast when I was out of high school, because they're a year younger. Q. Do you talk to them‑‑ did you talk to them back then? DEVON ALLEN: I talked to Marlon a lot, he was my friend, we did a few track meets like in Puerto Rico and up in Seattle. Q. What's he like? He's real nice, you know, just like his dad went to Alabama, so he's kinda like a kid, legacy to go to Alabama. He's real athletic, good speed, can move, he plays DB so he's one of those guys that I hate playing against because he's fast. Q. Sure? DEVON ALLEN: Great athlete, great guy. Q. What do you see out of Florida State's DBs? DEVON ALLEN: They have speed, athleticism back there, and you know it seems to me that they're, you know, they prepare in a way to make plays and it seems like they're making a lot of plays, they don't get beat deep too often, so try to figure out what to do to get around them. Q. Is there anything about them skillwise that makes them unique? DEVON ALLEN: Just their speed. Just like Ronald Darby is one of the fastest guys in the nation so just to have that speed gives you an advantage automatically and that's going to be one of the factors for their defense. Q. Track speed different from football speed? DEVON ALLEN: It is just because it's a different kind of preparation and different race, but speed is speed. It's all the same. Q. When did you last race him? DEVON ALLEN: Last time I raced him was my junior year in high school in California, I ran the 200 against him, beat him by 100th. Q. Wow! What jumps out besides their speed? DEVON ALLEN: Like you said, speed, but the D line is pretty big, they have a lot of guys that can make plays and the linebackers are just as big as the D linemen so hopefully we do well up front, we can run the ball a little bit and be able to open up our pass game a little bit and go from there, kinda keep everything going. Q. The first day of fall camp Coach started his speech by saying we got 40 new guys on this team! That's a lot of young guys, yet yourself, Royce, head line the freshman class, how did you guys assimilate so quickly? Pick it up so quickly? Even like the Michigan State game seemed like you guys had it down. Highway do you do that? DEVON ALLEN: It's just the way the program works. Best guy is going to play, the guy knows the offense is gonna play and I think during spring and summer and fall we focus on getting a lot of guys reps so if they needed to play they could play and you can see that with the receivers who are playing five, six, seven guys a game, true freshman, Charles Nelson, me, Darren, me and Byron. You know Dwayne Stanford, Kenion, all those guys are playing a good amount of time and that's because there is no drop‑off, whenever somebody gets tired we can go out and there is no drop‑off and somebody is running out and we can score. Q. Looked like you guys had everything down but when did you feel comfortable feeling like you're fluent and comfortable? DEVON ALLEN: Took a little bit but the first couple of games, it's hard to get into a rhythm when you're coming in and out but as the season went on, we're going in for two series and come out on for a series and then back out, so it took a while for us to adjust but by the fourth or fifth game you were firing on all cylinders. Q. That's kind of the ritual reward of the platoon system where you get reps but you're not necessarily until there for ten at a time? DEVON ALLEN: Exactly but sometimes you have to get into a rhythm but it's always nice to be fresh and have fresh legs when you have to go in there and run a lot of routes or whatever. Q. You said a couple weeks ago it's a stressful time of year for most people but because you're not doing a second sport you actually find it easy going even though it's the national semifinals. DEVON ALLEN: During the school year it's easy for me because I'm practicing during the morning and then doing film at night but during track season I'm practicing football in the mornings and then track in the afternoon, so, you know, it's less busy for me now and I can enjoy it and have fun, because school is pretty easy right now and football, you know, football is football. Coming out here now, we don't have any school to worry about, we just get to have fun in practice. Q. Where does playing in this college playoff rank in the things you've been able to do? DEVON ALLEN: Shoot, this is probably up there with the biggest, the National Championship game would be the biggest of the year and like last year the national championship for track and the USA Championships for track and the USA Championships for track, was a big deal but at least in the U.S., football is king so there is always a lot more people watching and a lot more people care about what's going on in the football field. Q. Does that mean this game is king for you? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, definitely. Q. Did you do a lot of block inning high school or is that something you had to learn at Oregon? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, my coach in high school instilled in me that blocking is going to be one of the things that can help you get to the NFL so I think, you know growing up, didn't really want to block but you had to. I started playing receiver when I was in high school so I realized and understood that I needed to do that. I'm not going to be able to catch the ball every play so I had to do something when I was on the field so I figured I may as well block so I learned how to do that and like you can see on the field, Oregon takes pride and all the receivers do well at blocking, get the perimeter sewed up for Royce and Byron and those guys so they can score. Q. What about Bryon as a blocker, how has he come along in that regard? DEVON ALLEN: He's one of the best blockers for sure, we do a thing in the receiver room the most pancakes, the most D cleats, the most touchdown blocks, and, you know, those guys are, you know, up there on the‑‑ I'm only winning because I have the most plays played but if it was like D cleats per play it would probably be Charles Nelson and Bryon up there winning. Q. What about other techniques for Bryon, what's been his progression since spring, learning to become a receiver. DEVON ALLEN: Because he's moving around so much he has to learn the whole offense and that's a tough thing with, you know, Pharaoh out, they have some of us playing the Y position, you know? So me and Dwayne are in there rotating in and that's tough for me, that's only a few plays I'm in there at Y but I'm all over the place trying to figure out what I'm doing so to have Bryon figure that out so quick and he dominates at the position, that's pretty cool. Q. So he's playing some of that Y stuff, too? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, he can do anything! I'm sure he can lineup on the outside if he needed to. He knows it all, yeah. Q. (No microphone.) DEVON ALLEN: I mean, it's kinda like‑‑ like last year he played that position a little bit but he played more half back but this year playing more receiver because we have Royce and Thomas, some big backs. So I feel like his transition was already‑‑ he was already playing that in practice and doing that in a game so we weren't really‑‑ we were like oh this is regular so now he's playing there the whole game. Q. What about his mentality, I think it's fair to say he was a little reluctant, but slow to maybe embrace that he was becoming a receiver. How is his mentality in that regard? DEVON ALLEN: He was always a back, his brother was a back, so I think maybe at first, but once he started getting catches and reps and chances he started to like it a little bit and we always enjoyed him in the receiver room, we're always having a fun time and good time and we embrace it and enjoy what we're doing. Q. Are you looking forward to seeing how your speed matches up with Florida State? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, for sure. I haven't really run plain speed since the Pac 12 Championship, so I'm ready to go and let it all loose. Q. What have you seen from their secondary on film? DEVON ALLEN: Um, they're just fast! They're fast! Those guys are fast and they can run. We're going to have to do something to open 'em up a little bit, maybe some stop routes or whatever to get them running and shut it down. We will see how the game goes when we get there and adjust from there. Q. (No microphone.) DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, definitely. Them and U of A, those guys, they have a lot of athletes back there that can play a lot of positions, those guys could probably play receiver if they wanted to, a lot of guys that are athletic. Q. Where do you guys get your physicality as far as blocking and stuff, is that during camp? Yeah, Coach does a real good job of making sure that we know we're out there to block as well so like you said during fall camp, every time we did an Indy drill you see the receivers practicing like running and catching, we're just over there blocking and pushing the sled. So we look like linemen during fall camp, really. But, you know, it's something that is a big deal for Oregon football and I think we've done a really good job this year and hopefully we get better and hopefully we do a really good job on Thursday? Q. How would you describe your offensive line? The Pac 12 has a laundry list of‑‑ DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, I think we have so many guys that can play. With injuries it sucks, because those are your guys friends and teammates, but we have so many guys that can fill in and it's not a drop‑off, and you have guys like Jake Fisher, Hroniss, those pieces, but you have guys that can fill in and do their job and tight just as well. The O line has done a great job this year and they've done a real good job and the backs have done a great job as well. Q. Once you got to Oregon were you surprised the play was so physical? People from the outside kind of think of it as a finesse thing. DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, I knew it was going to be different because it's college football, everybody is bigger, faster, stronger, they're going to be more physical and like I said, I was getting recruited and there were coaches that said you don't want to go to Oregon because they do bubble screens all the time and sometimes bubble screens is what works and sometimes running the ball is what works. I think the scheme of our offense and being able to run and gun and be physical at the same time gives us an advantage and it makes us so much better than other teams. Q. Can you describe the recruiting process for Oregon? Was it different from what other schools told you? DEVON ALLEN: Not really. The recruiting process was, you know, the recruiting process. It was busy and hectic. I came on my visit to Oregon for track, I didn't have a football scholarship yet, until Coach Helfrich got the job, but I talked to Coach Frost and he was like, hey, we have a quarterback who might transfer, Brian Bennett and if he transfers I'll give you a call and I guess it worked out. Q. Because they could give you a scholarship? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, so I got that scholarship so it worked out well for me. Q. When you were looking at both, were you start to go gain more offers after Oregon, were schools saying if you do both you won't be able to do one or the other? DEVON ALLEN: Not really. Schools didn't say that but I feel like maybe it's because they wanted me to come there, they knew I wanted to run track as well, they're not going to tell me I can't do anything until I get there. Q. Can you weigh how the season has gone for you in terms of at the start everyone was saying he's so good at track he should stick to track. Who knows how good he is at football and now you're a full season into this and you've said football is your main focus here. Has the season gone personally good enough for you to say, yeah, there is a big separation between me doing football and track? DEVON ALLEN: I think that, you know, just being at this high level, you know, just makes football that much more fun so being able to play for a national championship makes it more fun. With track I could have done a lot of things but I wanted to play college football and be here with my team, so I think that one of those things didn't really cross my mind. While that was happening I didn't think about it too much, I started think about summer lifting and conditioning so I could get ready for football. I think as the season goes on with this game and hopefully the National Championship, it solidified my decision and I will be happy at the end holding up the trophy. Q. We were talking earlier in the year and people were saying you should be doing this and that. DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, there is always going to be people that tell you what you need to do because there is some insight and wisdom but sometimes you have to go with your heart and figure out what you want to do for yourself. Q. Is that success validation to say, yeah, I'm good at this? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah but I had fun this season and as long as I had fun it didn't matter too much to me. Q. Is it a decision that‑‑ I know I've heard I say you didn't want to lose your NCAA eligibility and you wanted to play football. Is that a decision that you wrestled with because I'm sure people were telling you how much success you could have if you solely focused on track? DEVON ALLEN: As an athlete you want to be performing at the highest level, when they tell you you can, you know, that looks good to you, you know, being able to compete in pro track would have been fun, but, you know, college football, it's fun to me and hopefully I have a career in the NFL, if that works out. If not I can always go back and try to run again, you know? Q. Do you remember what it was like‑‑ you said you had to wait a couple days before you got the call about the scholarship? DEVON ALLEN: I didn't really‑‑ I didn't know exactly when and what happened with the scholarship I just knew that Coach frost said if it opens up, he will give me a call it. Afternoon Coach Helfrich got the job, I got the call, I was at my sister's soccer game, you know, watching, so I was pretty excited. Q. Was that nerve‑wracking, were you anxious? What was it like when you got the call? DEVON ALLEN: It was a little nerve‑wracking but realistically I probably would have came here and ran track and probably tried to walk on, hopefully things went well for there. I had to start playing again, but, you know, I'm glad the way things worked out the way they did. Q. Do you think there are competitive similarities? Is there a difference from a mentality standpoint when you come into a huge game like that? DEVON ALLEN: Not really, I think preparation and, you know, everything before that is the same, the way I prepare my body and I get ready for track meets the same way I get ready for a football game and that's just‑‑ anything I do athletically I do the same and football is more mental because there are so many moving parts and you have to learn the playbook, offense, special teams, all those positions, and track is a little bit more low key and less stressful, but, you know, it's definitely hard work and sometimes you practice so much, you know, by the time you get to the race you're not thinking about it anymore and makes it easy. Q. Being a track guy do you take a lot of pride in being the fastest guy on the football field? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, I try to. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Guys in college football, they just don't run track so lucky for me they don't run track. We have guys like Charles Nelson and Tony James and Marcus and B.J. Kelly that can really fly and lucky for me they don't choose to do the hurdles. Q. (No microphone.) DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, hopefully. If I can get 'em going a little bit there is always a good chance that I can win over the top. Q. Devon, what's something about Coach Frost that you might not know about him if you weren't around him in practice? DEVON ALLEN: He's definitely one of those guys that's like a kind heart. He still loves to play and compete athletically, he is out there practice, when we are running routes, he's running routes, he's competing with the quarterbacks, whether it be throwing the ball in the bucket or doing something like that. He likes to have fun and enjoy the game so I think that's one of the reasons why he is such a good coach, he has fun doing it and he's trying to get better. Q. Can he still get open? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, he's definitely fast! He can definitely run, still. Q. He's out there run that go hill after practice every day? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah. Q. Is his workout legendary? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, him and Coach Lubick always do their workout after practice, running. Unfortunately for me I got caught up in, you know, doing a few of those workouts with Coach Lubick after practice, so sometimes you don't want to do what he does even though‑‑ in the end it makes you a better player but it's tough sometimes. He had me doing four, 400s on the field because I was late to prepractice once. I was never late again, for sure. Q. Two interceptions for Marcus this year, four last year. Do you appreciate how rare those numbers are? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, they definitely are. It's a big deal being in college; it's tough to not do that. One of those interceptions was my fault! You can't even really count one of those as an interception‑‑ Q. What were the details on that? DEVON ALLEN: No, it was just‑‑ it was the Stanford game, the deep one I should have downed instead of going over the top and sometimes that's a miscommunication and that's the way the game works but hopefully it doesn't affect the game too much which it didn't, but sometimes it kinda sucks, when you're like ahhh. It was my fault. Q. Where was the miscommunication? DEVON ALLEN: It was on me. It was my read and I just made the wrong read. Sometimes it happens, and that's football. You just gotta have fun with it and move on. It's just a game, like a lot of people say and sometimes stuff happens, sometimes you miss your job, sometimes you miss a block, but you've just got to move on. Q. Is he the type of guy would ever bust your chops? DEVON ALLEN: No, definitely not. He would come up and slap me on the helmet and say "we'll get 'em next time" whatever. Q. How would you equate the speed we're going to see against the speed of the Pac 12? DEVON ALLEN: Yeah, they're definitely one of the fastest. I know UCLA has some guys that can really run and University of Arizona has some guys that can really run. They're definitely the fastest, pure speedwise, just on paper, you know, but a lot of guys in college can really fly. It's not going to be too much‑‑ I'm not going to prepare too much differently, I'm going to run routes the same way I do because it helps me get open against anybody. Hopefully we can win, you know, and we have a lot of good receivers that can do that. Q. You ran against in track these guys. DEVON ALLEN: Yeah. Q. You faced them‑‑ DEVON ALLEN: Those guys were definitely a lot faster and earlier in my track career they used to beat me a lot. I started to get faster in my junior and senior year and started to get 'em a few times. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|