Devon Allen (born December 12, 1994) is an American track and field athlete and two-time Olympian, specializing in the 110-meter hurdles, and a professional football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played wide receiver for the University of Oregon football team from 2014 to 2016.[1]
Devon Allen was born in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona to Louis Allen and Joey Knudson. His father is African American while his mother is White.[2] Louis Allen died in June 2022.[3]
At an early age, Allen competed in athletics with the Arizona Rising Suns track club. Despite having a strong interest in football, his coaches insisted he pursued athletics at Brophy College Preparatory.[citation needed]
Graduating high school as a four-star recruit, Allen committed to the University of Oregon and played on their football team for three years as a wide receiver. He tore his ACL in the 2015 Rose Bowl, and again in September 2016. After graduating college, Allen decided to focus on athletics instead of football.[citation needed]
After years of primarily competing in track & field, Allen participated in the football pro day at the University of Oregon during the 2022 preseason. He ran an unofficial time of 4.35 seconds in the 40-yard dash. On April 7, 2022, he visited the Philadelphia Eagles' NovaCare Complex training facility.[citation needed] The following day, he signed a standard three-year undrafted rookie deal with the Eagles.[4][5] He was waived on August 30, and re-signed to the practice squad the next day.[6][7][8][9] On February 15, 2023, Allen signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles.[10]
On August 29, 2023, Allen was waived by the Eagles and re-signed to the practice squad.[11][12] On September 25, Allen was promoted from the practice squad to make his NFL debut in Philadelphia's Week 3 contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[13] He tore his ACL for a third time in December.[14]
Allen was not signed to a reserve/future contract after the 2023-24 season and thus became a free agent when his practice squad contract expired.[15]
Track and field career
In the 110-meter hurdles, Allen is a three-time U.S. national champion (2014, 2016, and 2018) and a two-time Olympian, reaching the finals in both the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His personal best of 12.84 seconds, set in 2022, ranks as the third-fastest time in history.[16] In his final meet of 2021, Allen clocked 12.99 seconds and became the 13th American hurdler to ever break the 13-second barrier in this event.[17][18]
On July 17, 2022, Allen was disqualified at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, due to a controversial false start. The sensors in the starting blocks measured his reaction time from the moment the gun went off at 0.099 seconds, which is 0.001 seconds faster than the legally allowed reaction time of 0.100 seconds.[19][20]
In January 2024, Allen announced his hopes to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He was unable to achieve this goal, however, due to a persistent ACL injury.[14] In October 2024, it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track.[21]
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