Despite his size, I really like Michigan State C Brian Allen.
When I go to watch L.J. Scott footage from 2017, his center Allen pops out constantly. He's throwing guys on the ground every fourth play. He's a real nasty piece of work. So maneuverable, explosive, with such good hand and leverage.
I've talked up Rutgers DT Sebastian Joseph before because I really appreciate his build, the way he moves, and especially his hands and the way he's able to grip onto and rip offensive linemen away from him. He reminds me of an ex-Alabama player, Dalvin Tomlinson.
Well I'm watching Sebastian Joseph face up on Brian Allen for a game and the hands are still there for Joseph, he's trying to do what he wants to do, it's just that Allen isn't having it, for the most part. Maybe two snaps, Joseph was able to do what he wanted to do with his hands. Otherwise Allen refuses to be thrown off balance, and he has that knack for recovering position because of how quickly he moves his feet.
Just such a nasty little thing, the way he's constantly putting guys on the ground.
I think the reason he's down on the charts has to be because of the size, but it doesn't bother me as much because of the NFL trends. Take the Michigan game. He had zero, absolutely zero trouble with Maurice Hurst on the occasions they faced up. But he struggled a little bit whenever he got matched up singly against the gargantuan Bryan Mone (6'4" & 325 lbs), who probably won't be drafted.
But in today's NFL he's going to see a lot more Maurice Hurst than Bryan Mone, and when he does see the latter, he'll generally have help as a center.
He went up against a hell of a slate of defensive linemen in 2017 and he didn't seem overwhelmed by any of them. You've got headliners like Maurice Hurst, DreMont Jones, Nick Bosa, etc...but also guys like Sebastian Joseph, Jerry Tillery, Bryan Mone, Nathan Bazata, Tracy Sprinkle, Tyler Lancaster, etc.
I like him.