The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538670
60 THE WOLVERINE ❱ SEPTEMBER 2025 BY ANTHONY BROOME F ormer U-M kicking specialist Kenny Allen, who handled both kicking and punting duties during his senior season, did something in his career that only a Heisman Trophy winner had ever previously accomplished in Ann Arbor. During the 2016 campaign, Allen be- came only the second player in program history to lead the team in punting aver- age and scoring with at least 100 points in the same season. Allen's punts went an average of 43.3 yards, and he con- nected on 19 made field goals and 53 extra points. It was his second consecu- tive season with 100 or more points (100 in 2015). The other Wolverine to accomplish this feat? Tom Harmon during the 1940 season, when he had a 36.9-yard punt- ing average plus 117 points on 16 touch- downs scored, 1 field goal and 18 extra points. Allen graduated from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts with a degree in general studies and was a 2016 Academic All-Big Ten honoree. On the field, he appeared in 37 career games, earning All-Big Ten honors twice: 2016 second-team punter (coaches and me- dia) and honorable mention placekicker (coaches and media); 2015 third-team (media), honorable mention (coaches) as a kicker. Allen converted all 99 point-after at- tempts during his U-M career, and hit on 37 of 45 career field goal attempts (82.2 percent). His accuracy mark cur- rently sits at third in school history among players with at least 27 attempts behind Dominic Zvada (2024-present, 95.5 percent) and James Turner (2023, 85.7 percent). Allen entered the program in 2012 as a walk-on out of Fenton High School during the Brady Hoke era. He did not see game action in 2012 and appeared ❱ WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Former U-M Kicking Specialist Kenny Allen Is Reconnecting In His Next Chapter During the 2016 campaign, Allen was Michigan's kicker and punter. He became only the second player in program history to lead the team in punting average and scoring with at least 100 points in the same season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL