Former New Canaan All-Stater Zach Allen a hot commodity
Zach Allen’s name will be called at some point in the next couple of days setting the stage for the former New Canaan High School and Boston College star to continue to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.
Allen has had those pro football aspirations for as long as he can remember. It didn’t hurt that one of the NFL’s all-time leaders in quarterback sacks just happens to hail from Connecticut, so Allen had a bona fide NFL star to emulate.
“I found out Dwight (Freeney) went to (Bloomfield High School) growing up and seeing him become an All-Pro and everything ...,” Allen said after Boston College’s pro day last month.
Allen also said that having former New Canaan football players Conor Hanratty and Turner Baty with fathers who played in the NFL was also beneficial to him.
Now he is looking to make some history of his own.
Based on the mock drafts that have been released leading up to the start of the NFL draft, Allen was projected as a second-round pick. There is a chance that he could hear his name called during Thursday’s first round. If that is the case, he would be the first Connecticut native selected in the opening round since UConn’s Byron Jones (New Britain, St. Paul-Bristol) was the 27th pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2015.
The last Fairfield County native to go in the first round was former Bassick star Darryl Sims (20th selection in the 1985 draft). Allen could be the first former FCIAC product to go in the top 100 picks since Stamford’s Vlad Ducasse was the No. 61 selection in 2010.
Allen is intriguing because his 6-foot-4, 281pound frame could allow him to play multiple positions at the next level.
“Whether a team needs me to be an edge guy, inside guy, bend, be explosive, my big thing is I am a pretty versatile guy and I just want to prove I can keep on doing it,” Allen said.
“I want them to know they are going to get the hardest working guy in the building and that is not just a cliche, I will see to that. They will also see a really smart football player, I have a good football IQ.”
He has also been a very productive player at Boston College. He had 100 tackles as a junior and the only FBS defensive lineman with more during the 2017 season was Stanford’s Harrison Phillips. Allen finished with 199 tackles, 40 1⁄ tack
2 les for loss and 18 1⁄ sacks.
2
He had eight tackles for loss and three sacks in eight games against ranked teams in his three season seasons.
Allen had a solid showing at the NFL scouting combine. He finished sixth among defensive ends with a 32-inch vertical leap and time of 7.34 in the 3-cone drill, seventh with a 9-foot-4 broad jump, eighth with a 40-yard dash time of 5.0. Allen is part of one deepest group of defensive line prospect in recent memory.
The first round began at 8 p.m. Thursday. Former Suffield Academy star Christian Wilkins is likely to be taken in the top half of the opening round. There’s a chance that Allen’s former BC teammate Will Harris, the 2014 NEPSAC Class A Player of the Year while at Choate, could be taken in either the first or second round. The second and third rounds will be held on Friday with rounds 4-7 on Saturday.