Wisconsin Football: Braelon Allen to start out at RB

There has been some mystery surrounding Wisconsin football signee Braelon Allen since he’s committed to the Badgers. On popular recruiting sites like 247Sports, Allen has long been considered a safety.

A very big safety.

So big, that many wondered if he would stay there when he got to the college level. He committed to Wisconsin and he has been listed as a linebacker on 247Sports for a while now. It made sense. The kid is huge and would make a great Big Ten defender. He was a first-team all-state player as a defensive back in Wisconsin’s high school alternate spring season and was also the unanimous AP player of the year for the spring season.

Now, it’s unfair to peg Allen as just a defensive player. He dominated opponents while on offense. He also won first-state honors as a running back. In his final season of prep football, Allen ran for 1,039 yards and 23 touchdowns on just 71 carries. That’s an average of 14.6 yards per carry. That’s insane.

This is why it shouldn’t be too surprising that he will be starting his Wisconsin football career as a running back.

In the latest post of our position preview before preseason camp starts up in late summer, we took a look at the running back position. Jalen Berger is set to be the no. 1 tailback, but after him, it’s a bit of a mystery. That’s not to say there isn’t depth, because there is. They are bringing in three–scratch that–four running back in the 2022 class including Allen, plus the four backs on the roster from last season.

What we don’t know is what those backs can bring to the program.

In my opinion, you can never have enough athletes in a football program. Braelon Allen is the definition of an athlete. The dude could probably play just about anywhere you’d ask him to. He’s that special.

So if Berger continues to improve and becomes a stud, and Julius Davis or one of the true freshmen running backs show they can produce, that could allow the Badgers to move Allen back to defense later on. A guy like Allen is (hopefully) going to be hard to keep off the field. I’d hate to see the Badgers limit his snaps by keeping him at a crowded position, which makes me think of another idea.

When’s the last time we saw a two-way Wisconsin football player?

It’s not fair to compare Braelon Allen to a guy like Charles Woodson. That’s crazy, so I’m not going to. But what if the Badgers could use Allen in a similar way? Give him some snaps at running back or just as a weapon on offense, but also get him on defense where he can fly around and make some plays. You can see plenty of the plays he’s made on both sides of the ball here, on his Hudl highlights.

It’s almost unheard of in today’s game, but that would be something that would get a lot of fans excited. But then again, just getting Braelon Allen into a Wisconsin football uniform and the idea of watching him play anywhere on the field has a lot of Badger fans excited.

The future is bright for the Wisconsin football program, and Allen is a big reason why.

On Wisconsin.