Lasting seven rounds, the NFL Draft can produce stars in the most unlikely places. For the Los Angeles Rams, they selected a player who was already a star.
Linebacker Dakota Allen was a featured player in the Netflix series ‘Last Chance U’ after transferring out of Texas Tech to play at East Mississippi Community College. After one season at EMCC, he returned to Texas Tech to finish his collegiate career.
Allen had a strong junior season where he put up 101 total tackles. Allen was the Rams final pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Now, as he anticipates to join the Rams special teams units, Allen is hoping to show his value during his first NFL Training Camp, via Myles Simmons of TheRams.com:
“I feel like I definitely need to show up on special teams this Training Camp. I also feel like I need to make a couple plays on defense.”
Allen’s has high ambitions for a team that drafted five defensive players with their seven picks in 2019. However, the team definitely is looking to improve their defense after a fantastic two years on offense.
The Rams defense does have its bright spots, of course, one of which being All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Donald led the NFL with 20.5 sacks en route to winning his second straight NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
If Allen hopes to make his way on to the Rams defensive unit, he will have to play at a high level. The Rams starting linebacker, Cory Littleton, put up a team-best 125 combined tackles. Littleton was selected to his first Pro-Bowl in his third season. He got his start with the Rams on special teams though, so Allen could carve out a similar path for himself.
Allen finish his final season at Texas Tech with All-Big 12 Defensive honors. He was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week in October of last year. He made one fumble return for a touchdown in his final year of college play.
