Former Oregon two-sport star Devon Allen will perform at Ducks' pro day
Devon Allen has not closed the book on his dream of playing in the NFL.
Allen, a former two-sport star at Oregon who is currently one of the top 110-meter hurdlers in the world, plans to perform at the Ducks’ April 1 pro day, he told worldathletics.org.
“My plan is, after this World Championship year, to transition back into football,” Allen said. “Whether it will work or not, whether I’ll play at the NFL level and at an elite level, that’s purely up to my ability and what I can do on the field. We’ll see.”
Allen finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics last summer in the 110s with a time of 13.14 seconds, coming agonizingly close to a podium spot on the sport’s biggest stage. He ended 2021 ranked as the No. 1 hurdler in the world in his event, despite the field currently being loaded with elite, all-time talent.
But Allen, 27, could potentially put his track career on the back burner in order to resume his football career. He has not played in a game since Sept. 2016, when he tore his ACL for the second time in what proved to be his final game as a Duck.
Throughout three football seasons at Oregon, though, he proved to be an electric playmaker when healthy. In 2014, he hauled in 41 passes for 684 yards and a team-high seven receiving touchdowns.
“My goal was through 2020 Olympics, give myself four years to make this dream happen,” Allen said. “The Olympics got postponed so I postponed that a year and I finished with the Olympics, so I just decided that it’s now or never because I don’t want to get too old. I don’t want to turn 30, 31 and then try and get into the NFL.”
