Tuesday, November 3, 1998

Long run may have cut Zac Allen's career short

By AL PICKETT

Sports Editor

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Former Cooper all-state quarterback Zac Allen's collegiate football career may have ended a few games sooner than he wanted.

Allen, a senior quarterback at Carson-Newman College, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee on the second play of the Eagles' 52-13 win Saturday over Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C.

"It was the longest run of my career," Allen said. "I stopped to make a cut on my left foot, and I felt it pop. It was non-contact."

The 5-10, 180-pounder ran 58 yards on the play, which started from the Carson-Newman 6-yard line, before going down with the injury.

"If my little legs hadn't given out, I had some more room to run," he said.

Allen went to the doctor Monday.

"He said the ACL is gone," Allen said. "It is completely torn in two. They took an X-ray and there were no bone fragments, so that is good. He's not sure if there is any cartilage damage.

"He gave me two options - one, wait two or three weeks, rehab it and have surgery after the swelling goes down or, two, rehab it for two or three weeks and then brace it up. I would have low mobility, but maybe I could take a snap in the shotgun and contribute to the team. Either way, I'm going to have to have surgery and I don't have to make a decision whether I'll try to play again for two or three weeks."

Carson-Newman is currently 8-1 and ranked third in the nation in NCAA Division II.

"I'm so thankful my security doesn't lie in football," said Allen, who also serves as a field representative for eastern Tennessee for the Fellowship of Christian Athletics. "I use football to increase my security in God. I've played football for eight years, and I've stayed injury-free until now. I don't take that for granted.

"I just have to look at this as a growing opportunity. Now I will have empathy for others in this situation."

Allen will graduate in May. He said he wants to coach football and he would love to return to Texas to do that.

Allen, the son of Cooper head football coach Randy Allen, has had an outstanding career at Carson-Newman after a spectacular career in high school at Cooper.

He started two games as a freshman at Carson-Newman. He played in every game as a sophomore and then made his only start of the year in the national championship game, which the Eagles lost to Northern Colorado, afer coming off the bench to rally Carson-Newman to a 29-26 victory over Cal-Davis in the semifinals, including throwing a game-winning touchdown pass with 11 seconds left.

Allen has started every game at quarterback the two seasons for Carson-Newman. Last year the Eagles lost again to Northern Colorado, 30-29 in the national semifinals.

He is now the second-leading passer in Carson-Newman history.

Allen quarterbacked Cooper to a 20-5-1 record and the third and fourth rounds of the Class 5A playoffs in 1993 and '94. He was the District 4-5A offensive most valuable player as a senior in 1994 and a second team all-state selection after completing 141 of 249 passes for 2,228 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also rushed 99 times for 334 yards and eight touchdowns.

As a junior at Cooper, Allen passed for 2,315 yards and rushed for 13 touchdowns of his own.

Al Pickett can be reached at 676-6772 or picketta@abinews.com.