Rimington Trophy Award watch list 2017: 5 favorites to win
By John Buhler
Brian Allen
Center, Michigan State Spartans
The Michigan State Spartans may have had an absolutely frustrating 2016 college football campaign, but we have to believe that Mark Dantonio’s Big Ten program will be back on the right track in 2017. While playing in the Big Ten East with Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, all three of those blue-bloods have to play the Spartans, too.
One player that will be huge for the Spartans this fall is senior center Brian Allen. You might recall that his older brother Jack Allen was a stud on Dantonio’s offensive line through the 2015 season. That was the year that the Spartans won the Big Ten Championship over the Iowa Hawkeyes and reached the College Football Playoff.
The younger Allen brother may end up being better than his big bro. Allen has already played 38 games and started 25 along the offensive line, including a team-best 15 consecutively. Though he has bounced around all three interior offensive line spots, 2017 will be Allen’s year to be the lynchpin of the offensive line at center.
Allen is 6-foot-2, 305 pounds, with the right kind of build to have great leverage in the running game so crucial to winning in the Big Ten. Michigan State may not be better than the fifth-best team in its own conference, but being the younger brother of Jack Allen of the New Orleans Saints only helps Allen on his quest to win the Rimington Trophy in 2017.