Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 MARCH 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY BRYAN DRISKELL Predicting success for Derrik Al- len was not all that difficult. The tal- ented safety has the background that would lead to it. His father, Derrik Allen Sr., was a team captain for the Army West Point basketball team in 1993. His mother, Chinita Allen, is a graduate of Columbia University and is heavily involved in promot- ing education. It should not come as a surprise that their oldest son is a driven young man who has achieved success in all as- pects of his life. "The drive to compete and win was instilled in me when I was younger," the younger Allen explained. "I used to be a national champion in track when I was about 8 years old to 13 or 14. "I would go into the 400 [meters] — my best event even though I hated running it — and my mom would al- ways tell me you're not going into this race first; you're go- ing in with a target on your back and you have to go catch someone." What might come as a sur- prise is the roles each of his parents have played in his development. "My mom put me through this hard, just terrible, ruthless train- ing. It would get crazy," Allen re- called with a chuckle. "I'm out here thinking I have to go run this man down. "I just wanted to compete and get him, but it would turn out that I'd beat him by 20 meters." It wasn't his military man father that did the serious athletic push when he was younger — it was his mother, the academic. "My dad was in the Army, but my friends called my mom the drill ser- geant," Allen said. "My mom was not playing." When the story was relayed to the elder Allen, he laughed before con- firming that his son's story was in- deed true. Allen stopped running track full time once he enrolled in high school and focused on football, a sport he was introduced to in junior high school. Allen immediately took to the game, which came naturally to him. As an eighth grader, he was part of a Georgia team that won the Foot- ball University national champion- ship, and he's been dominating ever since. He was named a Freshman All- American by Adidas, a Sophomore All-American by MaxPreps, a Junior All-American by CBS Sports and a Se- nior All-American by Tom Lemming. His success on the field earned him an incredibly impressive offer list that included Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Okla- homa, LSU, Florida State, Florida and Penn State. Allen committed to Notre Dame in February 2017, but he still contin- ued to travel around the country to compete. Whether it was a national seven-on-seven tournament, a Rivals camp or one of Nike Football's The Opening camps, he wanted to see how he stacked up against the best in the country. "Camps were just a good time having fun competing and getting to know everyone else," he explained. "It wasn't really about rankings at that point, it was about seeing next level receivers and how they run their routes, how they react, how they move, what's the speed of the game going to be like. "It makes for an easier ad- justment when I get to college. It definitely made me better." Allen is also an outstanding student, but that part came with more prodding. "Naturally as a kid you never want to do your home- work — you hate that. But my mom and dad said I won't play football anymore if I don't get my math homework done," Allen said. "They definitely instilled the discipline to make sure I do my school work because school work comes first." Eventually Allen heeded the message, and academics ultimately became a sense of pride for him. So much so that he challenged his mother to allow him to take the lead in his own academic success. "My mom raised me to be independent, and I hated her looking over me, taking my grades every day," Allen noted. "At one point I was like, 'Mom, you know what, you don't need to do this anymore. Check them at the end of the semester and there won't be any problems.' That's what we do now." Allen will finish his high school academic career with a grade point average above a 3.3, and he took honors classes his last year years at Marietta (Ga.) Lassiter High School. The emphasis on academics first is a major reason why Allen ultimately chose Notre Dame. "Once football ends people are going to know your name. That's good and all, but the connections you can make are important, too," he said of what attracted him to Notre Dame. "Other students may be like, 'That's Derrik Allen the football player, but wait, he's in my business class, let's talk." The guidance he received from his parents helped Allen make a decision that has him in position for success Derrik Allen Was Pushed To Be Great Beyond The Gridiron Rivals rates Allen as the No. 11 safety and No. 135 overall prospect nationally. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN