BROWNSBURG — Tonight, Gibson Southern drove roughly 165 miles and Calumet High School drove roughly 150 in order to play a Saturday football after both of their games this weekend were called off.
Unofficially — very unofficially — I had Purdue quarterback 2022 QB commitment for 18-of-36 passing — two throwaways and two passes that drew PI calls — for 177 yards, two touchdown passes, one interception, one touchdown run on a QB sneak and a lost fumble on an ill-fated sneak early on in a game where Gibson Southern may not have been as sharp as it would have liked, but benefited from Calumet's inability to control field position. Calumet had only 27 players, and none of them appeared to be a kicker. They did not kick a PAT after they scored on their opening possession, kickoffs weren't exactly well refined, and two punts deep in its own territory were disasters. One of them went straight up in the air and barely traveled a yard if it did, and another may actually have gone backwards in the air. Point is, I'm not sure they had a true kicker on their roster, and that contributed to Gibson Southern opening drive after drive with great field position, and it's defense forced a pair of turnovers as well. It rained for a while, too.
A couple quick thoughts on Allen.
• As advertised, Brady Allen is a central-casting sort of presence for his position, every centimeter of 6-foot-5 and well put-together otherwise. He has Elijah Sindelar-type stature and the arm seems on par, as well.
• Through the course of the game, Allen made a few legit NFL-type throws, laser beams to the boundary, one beautiful ball he delivered between defenders before his receiver had even come out of his break and one gorgeous deep ball for a long TD. He threw another great deep ball that the receiver couldn't haul in. Can't say it was a drop because I can't tell if the DB got a hand in, but it looked like a great throw.
He missed a couple throws but I think it bears mentioning that his receiving corps is rather new and this off-season didn't provide much of a chance for chemistry-building and whatnot, so I'm not sure what was him missing throws and him and his receiver maybe not being on the same page once or twice. He did encounter more pressure than I figured Calumet would be able to muster, and that led to two sacks and one pass being batted down, but there were a few situations where Allen had a ton of time to throw, but no one open to throw to. It contributed to the sacks and the aforementioned two throwaways.
Completion percentage can be a very deceiving stat at the high school level because a QB can control only so much at all levels but especially that level. Kyle Orton was a sub-50-percent passer as a senior in high school and IIRC Curtis Painter's numbers weren't overwhelming, either, nor were Danny Etling's, as he played on a terrible team.
• The Titans go fast, very much a huddle-free tempo offense and Allen very much seemed in command and comfortable with the pace, and made good decisions. Seems to be a big fan of the hard count to try to draw the defense off-side.
• Seems athletic enough and comfortable throwing on the run, which he did a few times as Gibson Southern gave him a rolling pocket to throw from.
• If you pay attention to pre-game behavior you can often tell what sort of individual you're dealing with, like if they pace and talk to themselves a lot, they might be crazy and if they talk to their teammates and try to energize everyone, they're probably pretty good leaders/teammates. Allen definitely seemed like the latter. Always a good way for a quarterback to be. He seems like a very positive, very team-oriented sort of fellow. Again, a good way for a quarterback to be.
• First impression: All the physical tools and all the intangibles — at least those that can be known before a college playbook is thrown in one's lap — seem to be there. He's ranked where he's ranked and was recruited as he was recruited for a reason.
Here's our quick little video interview.
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