GREEN BAY — There have been too many great University of Wisconsin running backs to count and Notre Dame Academy running back Kingston Allen in the class of 2027 who just committed to the Badgers last Friday is hoping he’s the next one.
“I called the (Badgers) running back coach Jayden Everett, and I told him I was like, I’m ready to come home and he was in the barbershop getting a haircut and he went, ‘yeah!’ he was screaming in the barbershop,” Allen said.
While the Badgers are thrilled to have him, Allen is excited to follow in the footsteps of running backs he grew up watching.
“Getting offered by Wisconsin was always a goal of mine because growing up watching Melvin Gordon and Jonathan Taylor and the whole RB-U type mentality, that was a great thing and I just want to carry that on,” said the Tritons star.
Watch Allen talk about why he chosen Wisconsin:
Allen has already received support from Badgers fans, but also from Wisconsin greats like Melvin Gordon and Braelon Allen.
“It was so cool to have them actually reach out to me and Braelon Allen gave me his number and told me to hit him up if I ever need him, and it's just such a cool dynamic for sure,” said Allen.
He says between Wisconsin’s vision for him and NIL potential there were two things that sealed his commitment.
“It was when I went to the spring practice, everything about it was just so great,” he said. “We're in the middle of the field, we got to watch them actually run team (drills) and watch them run individual drills. That was so great and it was the homegrown type mentality and again, the Braelon Allen and all of them being from here and being able to carry on that tradition to Wisconsin.”
Not bad for a young man who hadn’t started a varsity game before this past season and thanks to his relentless work ethic, he statistically had the greatest year ever for a running back in Wisconsin, rushing for the most yards and touchdowns (3,548 yards and 57 touchdowns) in Wisconsin history.
“It's been the craziest 365 days of my life. I went from a kid who literally just like,dreams of becoming the next great Badgers running bac I looked up to (former Tritons star running back) Christian Collins and wanted to play like him to a kid that's being offered by Wisconsin and I'm going to play there soon. Like, that’s, that’s such a cool flip from one year to the next. It's surreal,” Allen said.
Now with a big weight off his shoulders, Allen is hoping he can lead the Tritons this year to a gold ball in Division 2.
