Devon Allen (born December 12, 1994) is an American track and field athlete and two-time Olympian, specializing in the 110-meter hurdles, and a professional football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played wide receiver for the University of Oregon football team from 2014 to 2016.[1]
Early life
Devon Allen was born in 1994 to Louis Allen and Joey Knudson. His father is African American while his mother is White.[2] Louis Allen died in June 2022.[3]
At an early age, Allen began running track with the Arizona Rising Suns track club. He worked very hard at both track and football in his younger years, however, his coaches insisted he keep on pursuing his track career despite having a strong interest in football. His hard work and dedication in track and field accelerated him to have successful high school years at Brophy Prep.[citation needed]
Coming out of high school as a four-star recruit, Allen committed to the University of Oregon and played on their football team for three years as a wide receiver, with his first season as the most productive one. He tore his ACL in the 2015 Rose Bowl, and again in September 2016. After coming out of college, Allen initially focused his career on track and field rather than football.
After years of competing in the U.S. Nationals and the Olympics as a track athlete, Allen chose to participate in the football pro day held for players at the University of Oregon during the 2022 preseason. Allen caught the attention of NFL scouts when he ran an unofficial 4.35-second 40-yard dash. He impressed the Philadelphia Eagles enough to merit a visit on April 7 to their training facility, the NovaCare Complex.
On April 8, 2022, the day after being brought to their training facility, Allen signed a standard three-year undrafted rookie deal with the Eagles.[4] He was waived on August 30, 2022 and signed to the practice squad the next day.[5][6][7][8] On February 15, 2023, Allen signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles.[9]
On August 29, 2023, Allen was waived by the Eagles and re-signed to the practice squad.[10][11] On September 25, Allen was promoted from the practice squad to make his NFL debut in Philadelphia's Week 3 contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[12] He tore his ACL for a third time in December 2023.[13]
Allen was not signed to a reserve/future contract after the 2023-24 season and thus became a free agent when his practice squad contract expired.[14]
Track and field career
In the 110-meter hurdles, Allen is a three-time U.S. national champion (2014, 2016, and 2018) and a two-time Olympian, reaching the finals in both the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His personal best of 12.84 seconds, set in 2022, ranks as the third-fastest time in history.[15] In his final meet of 2021, Allen clocked 12.99 seconds and became the 13th American hurdler to ever break the 13-second barrier in this event.[16][17] In April 2022, the Eagles signed Allen as a wide receiver.[18]
On July 17, 2022, Allen was disqualified at the 2022 World Athletic Championships in Eugene, Oregon, due to a controversial false start. The sensors in the starting blocks measured his reaction time from the moment the gun went off at 0.099 seconds, which is 0.001 seconds faster than the legally allowed reaction time of 0.100 seconds.[19][20]
Following a return to football in 2022 and his third ACL tear, in January 2024 Allen announced his hopes to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He was unable to achieve this goal, however, due to the injury recovery.[13]
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