There were plenty of pleasant surprises for Michigan football in Jim Harbaugh’s first season, a 10-3 campaign. Few of them rivaled kicker Kenny Allen’s emergence.
A former walk-on punter, fifth-year senior Allen started dabbling in field goals just for kicks after grad senior Blake O’Neill won the punting job.
He wondered why early in camp.
“It had been a few years,” he admitted with a laugh. “I probably started kicking again in camp, the first or second day, and the first couple days were not pretty. After I got some of the rust off, after week one and getting back into it, that’s when I realized I’d have a shot.”
He took no offense at being called a pleasant surprise.
“I think I surprised myself,” he said. “It was really fun being out there scoring points and stuff, but nice to work hard for something and see my goals coming true, being out there and helping the team out.”
Allen made 18 of 22 field goals, including huge ones in tight games. The ante is higher now with O’Neill having graduated – he’ll now be asked to do double duty, punting and kicking.
U-M coaches spent a good portion of special team practice in spring installing the pro style punt formation.
“I think it be awesome [handling both duties],” he said. “I did it back in high school, and you see a couple guys around the country doing it. I love both, so think it would be awesome to do both.
“We got Blake last year and he did a phenomenal job, so there was really nothing for me to do as far as punting. It was all rugby style. I just thought I’d start kicking for fun. Before I knew it I was No. 1 kicker, so I said, ‘okay, I’ll run with this.’ I was practicing more, getting a little better. The season came around and I was kicking.”
It was an easy transition, he said, and going back to punting has been just as comfortable.
“You see guys like Pat McAfee [West Virginia] who did them both in college. A lot of guys do it in high school … my brother did it,” he said. “I just think it’s fun doing both. I don’t really see too many issues switching between it.”
