Alabama loses All-SEC linebacker Christopher Allen to foot injury

One of the only negatives for Alabama from its season-opening 44-13 win over Miami is an injury to one of its top defensive players.

Outside linebacker Christopher Allen, a 2020 second-team All-SEC selection, sustained a significant foot injury and may be lost for the season, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban announced after the game.

Allen was injured during a strip-sack of Miami quarterback D’Eriq King one minute in the second quarter and was later carted to the locker room.

It’s the second serious injury in the last few years for Allen, who missed the 2018 season due to an offseason ACL injury. Allen, a former four-star recruit from Baton Rouge (La.) Southern University Lab, led the SEC in tackles for loss last season with 13 and was third on the Crimson Tide with six sacks.

Instead of leaving for the NFL, Allen returned to Alabama for his redshirt senior season and was viewed in the NFL scouting world as a top four round prospect for the 2022 NFL draft. Along with preseason first-team All-SEC selection Will Anderson, Allen had been expected to form one of the nation’s best outside linebacker tandems.

Now, the Tide will have to turn to sophomore Drew Sanders. Fellow sophomore Chris Braswell may play more now, too. Like Anderson, both Sanders and Braswell were five-star members of Alabama’s 2020 recruiting class.

Sanders, a product of Denton (Tx.) Ryan, tallied six tackles vs. Miami after stepping in for Allen. He appeared in 11 games as a freshman in 2020, notching nine tackles while contributing on special teams and as a reserve outside linebacker.

Braswell, from Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances, didn’t play last season but saw time against Miami as a situational pass rusher and had two tackles.

Aided by those two, the Tide held King and the Hurricanes to one touchdown and just 248 yards even with Allen out for most of the final three quarters.