If he too often escaped notice amid the Suhmania of last year, you could no longer miss Pierre Allen on that misty night in San Diego.
It was not just that Allen claimed two sacks in Nebraska’s dismantling of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. There was a discernable confidence that accompanied the defensive end’s play.
After one Allen sack, some celebratory moves followed.
“I felt like just dancing and having fun and making noise out on the field,” Allen said.
He makes no apologies. Allen’s plan is to be just as noisy (figuratively, at least) in 2010.
Prior to the Holiday Bowl, he had three sacks in the previous 13 games.
Allen, who finished tied for seventh on the team with 51 tackles, doesn’t make much of those stats.
“I had no expectations numberwise. That’s not my focus,” he said. “My concern was getting to a Big 12 Championship, a great bowl game, and that’s what we did.
“Our defensive scheme doesn’t allow you to get those big numbers because we play so technically sound. We don’t just jet up the gaps, and run through the gaps and run up the field. Most people might see us at the line of scrimmage stick on blockers and they probably think we’re not getting a good pass rush. But they don’t really know what we’re doing.”
So Allen doesn’t buy into any talk that he turned it on late last season.
“I’ve been on,” he said after Friday’s practice. “I do what the coaches ask me to do and I play fundamentally sound football. I’m not being cocky. I’m a confident player. I feel like I’m a great player.”
Allen’s defensive end coach, John Papuchis, said Allen has always been a significant contributor.
But now the coach is looking at the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Denver native to take on an even bigger role.
“Along with Jared Crick, he’s the guy that’s been through the battles,” Papuchis said. “So when I’m looking at the front and we’re looking for guys to step up and lead by example, and also lead vocally, he’s a guy people turn to because he’s done it.”
Allen’s eager for that challenge of a leadership role.
He thinks of guys like Barry Turner and Zach Potter who came before him at defensive end. Neither were big talkers.
“They led by example, showing you on the field, so that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Allen said.
As for losing No. 93?
“Suh is big shoes to fill,” Allen said. “It’s not going to be just one person, Baker (Steinkuhler) or T-Mo (Terrence Moore). It’s got to be all of us as a defense because he helped us on the run, the pass, he was tremendous. So to keep up and fill his shoes, everybody is going to have to step their games up.”
And, yes, Allen said that includes a few more sacks than last season.
“It’s all about the wins. I’m not big on numbers, but there will be more than five, I can tell you that,” he said.
At that point, a big smile came over Allen’s face.
It’s the kind that finds defensive ends when the conversation is about crunching quarterbacks.
“Yeah, there will be more than five sacks.”
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