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| Jets safety Antonio Allen was a seventh-round pick in this year's draft, but he has found his way onto the field and is making plays." (US Presswire) |
On April 28th, the Jets drafted S Antonio Allen out of South Carolina in the seventh round of the 2012 draft. Six months later, after a solid training camp and then a stint on the practice squad, he's a member of the active roster -- and he's making plays.
In his first NFL game, in Week 6 against the Colts, Allen not only started, but he sacked QB Andrew Luck.
"I wasn't familiar with the defense," he said of the beginning of the year when he was placed on the practice squad. "Now I'm comfortable."
Allen said all of the veterans in the secondary have helped him tremendously since his arrival, including CBs Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie.
Allen's biggest focus has been learning his run/pass keys -- in other words, learning how to read when a team is going to run vs. when it's going to pass by watching things that the offensive players do. To that end, his studying has been multi-layered. In addition to studying his own film, he's studying how Cromartie does his studying. Allen ultimately wants to be able to hone in on the type of detailed knowledge he sees Cromartie absorb.
"I'm trying to get like Cromartie," Allen said. "He already knows my routes before I run them. I'm trying to get like that."
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