CUMBERLAND — After a little more than three months of playing football, Mikey Allen’s dream came through. The Fort Hill senior signed with Southern Utah on a full scholarship to play Division I football.
Allen will go play for former Frostburg State head coach DeLane Fitzgerald, who is entering his second year coaching the Thunderbirds. Fitzgerald went 5-6 in his opening slate at the Football Championship Subdivision school.
“It’s been a long journey, the hard work paid off,” Allen said. “Coach Fitzgerald, he believed in me. As a player, that’s one thing you really want. He believed in me.”
Allen selected Southern Utah over a football offer from Frostburg State and basketball offers from Maine and Frostburg.
He had interest in football from Maryland, Villanova, Sacred Heart, Toledo and Lehigh, and looks in basketball from Albany, Youngstown State, Eastern Michigan, Robert Morris, Saint Francis and Navy.
“When I came back (to Fort Hill), I was really 50-50 (on what sport to pursue in college) because I knew how good I could be at football if I put the work in,” Allen said. “BW really put the work ethic in me and showed me what it’s like to be a Division I player. The work that you had to put in.”
Allen took a winding path to Southern Utah, playing his first three high school seasons at Bishop Walsh for coach Dan Prete. The Spartans don’t have a football program.
The senior etched his name into the fabric of local basketball history in March, sinking a pair of buzzer-beating 3-pointers at the 60th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament to push Bishop Walsh to two wins at the tournament for the first time ever.
However, Allen, who lives in South Cumberland, decided to attend Fort Hill to play football for his senior season. The move came in the wake of the death of close friend Saiquan Jenkins, a football player who was killed in October 2021.
Allen starred in his lone season at Fort Hill, amassing 1,751 total yards and 19 touchdowns, helping lead the Sentinels to their ninth state championship and second in as many years.
The do-it-all running back and defensive back rushed for 945 yards and 13 scores, had 240 receiving yards and three TDs, 483 return yards and a score and intercepted four passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
While Prete misses Allen’s perimeter shooting on the Spartans, who compete in the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference against some of the country’s best, he was proud to see the now-Fort Hill standout continue his athletic career at the D1 level.
“Excited for Mikey, he’s worked really hard for this,” Prete said. “He’s following his dreams, and I think he’s going to be a great addition to Southern Utah.
“He’s worked hard in the weight room. Emotionally and mentally, he’s worked really hard. I think getting out of the area and being able to spread his wings will be great for him.”
Allen said the offer from Fitzgerald stemmed from tape he sent the former FSU coach, who went 62-19 in eight seasons in Frostburg. Fitzgerald liked what he saw and reached out to Sentinels head coach Zack Alkire.
“Being able to talk to DeLane about Mikey’s character, his work ethic, sealed that deal,” Alkire said.
Though some could view Allen’s lack of gridiron experience as a negative — he hadn’t played since his middle school years with the Patriots — Alkire sold it as a positive to potential suitors.
“I thought that we could sell college coaches on his raw ability,” he said. “I knew how good Mikey could be at football. … You knew that there was talent there.
“It was being able to sell coaches on, maybe not what you see now, but on the potential. He’s essentially something they can look at, and he doesn’t have four years of bad habits. He’s got three months worth of learning the game again.”
Southern Utah competes in the Western Athletic Conference of Division I’s FCS. However, the Thunderbirds may be poised to move to the highest level of college football.
The WAC and the Atlantic Sun have agreed to merge and form a 10-member football-only conference, with the goal becoming the 11th FBS conference.
The league plans to begin playing together in 2024. A potential FBS move is still up in the air.
Allen’s signing marks the second season in a row a Fort Hill standout will play at the Division I level after 2021 Area Player of the Year Blake White signed with Towson.
“It’s great that he has the opportunity to play at the next level,” Alkire said of Allen. “The fact that it’s as high of a level as it is, that’s big for him, that was one of his goals.
“He’s grown tremendously, but he’s still raw. He still has a lot of growing to do. He’s going to go to a place that’s going to mold him and make him better, the sky is the limit for him.”