With a year of experience in the Canadian Football League (CFL) now under the belt of Saskatchewan Roughrider linebacker A.J. Allen, he is hopeful to build off his first professional season with the green and white.
On Thursday, the native of Burlington, Ontario joined Michael Ball on the SportsCage.
Even though he wears #32 with the Roughriders, Allen’s favourite number as a linebacker is 52. There is a special meaning for Allen behind the number. His roommate during at the University of Guelph, Kyle Coleman tragically passed away on December 10, 2016.
The 24-year-old explains the connection to 52.
“Number ten is a weird for a linebacker, but number two is not, five times two is ten and that’s how we got it.”
Despite his best efforts, Allen hasn’t been able to exchange the number 52 away from teammate Nigel Harris. The former Gryphon jokingly said he has gone as far as to offer his teammate a trip around Saskatchewan.
After completing his rookie season in 2022, the linebacker is hoping to use the information that he absorbed during his initial CFL campaign to further success in 2023. He said during his rookie season he spent a lot of time observing his teammate, Larry Dean.
Allen admired the veteran’s ability to remain in the Saskatchewan lineup throughout the entire 18-game schedule, making a significant contribution on both defence and special teams. The Riders fourth-round pick in 2020 said that Dean is the type of veteran you keep an eye on during practice.
“That guy is a hall of famer and I look up to him in every sense of the way he goes about this job and profession is second to none, his preparation, his work ethic.”
Preparation is what makes Dean a standout linebacker according to Allen.
“How he goes about watching the game and learning about his opponents and preparing his mind. Those are the things I’m going to take with me and run with me because he’s been able to have this amazing and luxurious career because of these habits that he has built.”
An experience that Allen will not forget was the game on September 30 against Winnipeg. The team was victimized by the stomach flu, with the majority of the roster in no shape to play that day. Allen said he began to feel flu-like symptoms the evening before.
Even with little sleep before the matchup against the Blue Bombers, the linebacker made sure he was available to play that day.
“I saw the numbers dwindling and dwindling, I said I can’t leave these guys, I need to dress.”
With Allen set to return to the Roughriders for his sophomore season, his focus is to use the knowledge he has gained from veterans and apply it to his off-season workouts. He is hoping that he can soon handle playing in the number of snaps that a player like Dean took part in 2022.
“I’m a Canadian, so I know how the game goes, I know there’s a lot of running and stuff and that’s where I need to get better at.”
