CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bobby Allen has broken down tape with his sons throughout the years as they rose through the ranks as young quarterbacks, perhaps dating to their days in junior high. Dads in coaching do talk football at home with their sons.
If there was ever a time in his 19 seasons on the Arkansas coaching staff that he could help, it might be in preparations for Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl. But it’s not going to happen.
“Nah, I won’t do that,” Allen said when a reporter asked if that was a possibility this time.
“I’m not going to muddy the water for Dan Enos. He can handle this. He’s seen plenty of this type of defensive scheme through the years.”
Enos is the UA offensive coordinator and Allen’s son Austin will be the quarterback when the Hogs meet the Hokies on Dec. 29 in Charlotte, N.C.
Bobby Allen said he’s not gone over game tape with sons Brandon or Austin during their time running the Arkansas offense. Never mind that he’s on staff as director of high school and NFL relations as his sons quarterbacked teams for Bret Bielema the last four years.
Bobby does know plenty about the Virginia Tech defense that is coached by Bud Foster, the coordinator in Blacksburg since 1995. Allen has been close to both Foster and Tech defensive line coach Charley Wiles.
It’s an interesting scenario. First, Allen is a 1983 grad from Virginia Tech. He earned three letters for the Hokies as a quarterback, outside linebacker and kickoff man. Second, there are some other roots that are similar to Foster and Wiles, dating to their days at Murray State.
Foster played and coached at Murray. Wiles was on the Murray staff when Houston Nutt brought Allen there to coordinate the defense in 1996.
“Charley and I were going to be co-coordinators at Murray,” Allen said. “We had gone to Tech to visit with Bud about their defense, what we were going to run at Murray. The day after we got there, Tech lost a coach and Charley was hired.”
Allen did install Foster’s defense at Murray and carried it to Boise State with Nutt. He came with Nutt to Arkansas, where he was co-coordinator in 1998 with Keith Burns.
“It’s a 4-2-5 and it was something Keith was open minded to run, so we just kept it when he came with us to Arkansas,” Allen said. “It was the same stuff that I got from Bud on that trip to Virginia Tech in 1996.”
It’s similar to the same scheme Foster is running at Virginia Tech now.
“It has 4-3 principles, but you play five defensive backs,” Allen said. “At that time, it was a good way to bring eight into the box. You could play your free safety close to the line in the middle, and bring him into the box. That’s the way we used Kenoy Kennedy and Kenny Hamlin.
“You can play those safeties tight and blitz them. You play with a smaller guy on the edge at that outside linebacker slot and the rover, almost corner types. That’s the way we played Zac Painter, a converted corner.
“You play with a smaller guy with some physical attributes on the outside. It gives you some speed to set the edge.
“What you end up getting is the illusion of the blitz. You are playing the outside linebacker so tight. It also gets you in position to make it hard to double team the defensive tackle.”
Allen hasn’t talked to Foster in a few years, but has maintained communication with Wiles. They often text.
“I think we went back to Va Tech a few times to talk with them about defense,” Allen said. “I have always kept in touch with Charley.”
Allen admits that he’s stepped into the offensive room to see some Virginia Tech tape since the bowl matchup was announced.
“I’ve watched some,” he said. “They are doing a few things different now, but it’s a lot of the same principles. To be honest, things have evolved (on offense) since ‘98. It was a lot of two-back stuff back then. There is so much (one-back) now, people are playing different. But the good part of the 4-2-5, it still fits because it’s a way to get to the nickel with a lot of the same personnel.”
As best as Allen can recall, he’s returned to Blacksburg four times since finishing as a player.
“I believe the family was with me once, when my father passed away and we went back to Maryland,” he said. “We came back through Blacksburg. But I doubt any of them remember it because they were tiny.
“It just never worked out that they got to go any other time. You go back to the summer time and it was playing baseball or going to 7-on-7 tournaments. The summers filled up over the last 20 years.”
Allen was a triple-threat athlete in high school. He was a wishbone quarterback for a 12-0 Seneca Valley team in Gaithersburg, Md. He also handled kicking and punting duties. He was the Washington, D.C., area player of the year as a senior. Seneca Valley was a first year school.
Tech coach Jimmy Sharpe signed Allen, but that staff was fired in the spring. Bill Dooley, the new coach, sent most of that class to prep school.
“That was kind of the way a lot of coaches in the East did it at that time,” Allen said. “They’d over sign and use the military schools to develop players. The new staff didn’t offer me a scholarship, but invited me to walk-on after a year at prep school.”
There were other options, but Allen had his heart set on Virginia Tech.
“I played some quarterback, but mostly I played outside linebacker and kicked,” he said. “It’s a great place, beautiful and a lot like Fayetteville. You have the town, but just 15 minutes outside it was mountains, rivers and streams – just like here.
“I enjoyed my time there. One thing I remember, the facilities there were ahead of their time. They had an indoor workout area, a good lifting program. But like anywhere, it’s about the people. There were good people there. I’m still in touch with several of my teammates.”
One of his favorite memories came against rival West Virginia.
“I handled kickoffs,” he said. “There was one sequence I’ll never forget, at their place. I kicked off and I was just trying to hit it as hard as I could and get a touchback. I hit a knuckleball, they fumbled it and we went down and recovered. We scored, and the same thing happened. It was another knuckleball, they fumbled, we got it and scored again. I did it again, three in a row.
“After that third time, I went back to the sidelines. I was excited, mad that I couldn’t hit it right and a little embarrassed. Coach Dooley grabbed me. He said, ‘I don’t know what the hell you are doing, but keep doing it.’ It was crazy and it still comes up.”
It will be a little crazy to see his son play against his alma mater and against two old coaching friends. Allen coached with James Shibest at Arkansas from 2000-07. Like Allen, Shibest - who played receiver for the Razorbacks - will be on the sideline opposite his alma mater as the Hokies’ special teams coach.
“I admit that I’m excited,” said Allen, who noted his Virginia Tech diploma hanging in his office. “It will be good to see some of those guys. It doesn’t happen every day. But it’s all about Arkansas. I’ll cheer for Tech another day.”