Keep IU’s Thomas Allen Down? Not A Chance

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Tell Thomas Allen it hurt so good, and at an intellectual level, the level that puts goals and big picture above all else, he bought it.

This is, after all, a very driven Indiana Hoosier.

But at the physical level, the short-term zone that registers pain and discomfort, thus causing the body to demand to know what the bleep is going on, this keep-getting-back-up linebacker wanted it to stop, wanted to tell Jacob Laverman, director of football rehabilitation turned master of necessary pain, to go away.

But he didn't, of course, which is why Allen, the son of a successful head football coach, who is also the son of a successful head football coach, has a chance for a senior season to remember in what could be a Hoosier season for the history books.

"You have to look at big pictures and be able to see if it's worth it," Allen says. "At the end of the day, I wanted to finish the right way. I wanted to help this team win. We have a special group. That was one of the biggest reasons I came back."

Allen is used to the come-back-from-injury trail.

Consider in 2019 he had a season-ending shoulder injury, which required grueling rehab some consider so painful they vow to never do it again no matter how bad the shoulder gets.

This was worse.

Last Nov. 14, during IU's victory at Michigan State, Allen blew out his hip. Specifically, the hip was dislocated and a posterior wall was fractured.

It was bad enough that, after the game, the elder Allen teared up talking about it. He thought he had just seen the end of his son's career.

This was the same injury that ended Bo Jackson's football-and-baseball Superman run, the same one that finished Tua Tagavailoa as the Alabama quarterback.

A side note -- Tagavailoa has fully recovered and is now the quarterback for the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

At that point, the younger Allen could have quit playing football in the worst possible way.

He's not wired like that.

The first four weeks after the injury meant spending most of his time in bed or on crutches, and in constant pain.

After the surgery, it was more of the same. He couldn't start running until March.

"I laid in bed for a while," Allen says. "You kind of hang out and let the bone heal. That was a frustrating process. You're bored. You don't do much. It was just kind of everyday through the winter and spring and summer. It's a grind."

The grind had a purpose. Allen wanted to play again. Doctors said he could. His family was for it. The elder Allen said be smart and push hard, but not to the breaking point, as the young sometimes do.

"My dad has done a phenomenal job of that," the younger Allen says. "He said, 'If it doesn't feel good at all, don't do it.' It's been day-by-day throughout the summer and throughout camp. We've tried to protect it."

Allen had to regain strength, conditioning, flexibility, and mobility. Scar tissue had to be broken up. Tightened muscles had to be loosened. A joint that didn't want to move had to be coaxed otherwise.

None of this happened with a light touch.

Enter Laverman. He pushed and stretched the hip joint, which conflicted with what Allen's body wanted to do.

The immediate result -- off-the-charts pain, and an appreciation for Laverman's ability to get Allen to where he needed to be.

"He's amazing," Allen says. "He's helped me through all my injuries. He would stretch me and I got tears in my eyes. It's the worst pain I've ever been through. I will not miss that. I love him to death, but I don't want him to ever touch me again."

Laverman shouldn't have to. Allen is back to practicing and preparing for the Sept. 4 season opener at No. 18 Iowa.

"When you dislocate your hip," Allen says, "at the start, you don't do anything. You have your ups and downs.

"When I had a day that I felt really good, I was going to attack it all out. I was going to attack every day the way you need to."

Of course, he didn't always have good days.

"It was kind of a roller coaster of a rehab to get everything back healthy and get the muscles around your hip healthy again," he says. "It was a very long process to get through, but it makes you stronger at the end."
Allen has lifted and run and practiced to get back to playing time without guarantees. The Hoosiers are loaded with linebacker talent, led by All-American Micah McFadden and senior standout Cam Jones.

"We have more (linebacker) depth than we've ever had in my career here," Allen says. "That's the biggest difference. It's the most mature team I've been with since my true freshman year when we had (former All-American linebacker) Tegray Scales.

"They were mature, but they didn't have the depth. We're just as mature as them and we have the depth."

Still, the 6-3, 240-pound Allen -- with career totals of 53 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and a sack as a reserve -- will have a role on a defense that should be among the Big Ten's best.

"I've had some pain through camp and that is part of it. I feel really good. I'm excited to have the role that I'm in and be able to help our team win."
Add it up, including the fact the Hoosiers return 17 starters from a 6-2 Outback Bowl team and are ranked No. 17 and Allen says, "It's going to be a really special year for us."

The NFL is not in Allen's future. He already has his bachelor's degree, is positioned to earn a masters from the Kelley School of Business, and is a three-time Academic all-Big Ten selection.

Plus, he got married this summer -- his father presided over the ceremony -- to Annika Baez, a three-year first-base starter for IU's softball team.

Let's just say Allen has maximized his Cream & Crimson experience.

"I am able to get my MBA and do some great things off the field."

Allen might one day join his father and grandfather (also Tom, a successful former Indiana high school head coach) in directing young men.

The younger Allen has a knack for it, has done it in limited ways for IU while rehabbing through his injuries. He has a thorough understanding of the sport that only comes from growing up immersed in it.

A few last things remain on the playing to-do list. IU hasn't won a bowl game since 1991, a 24-0 Copper Bowl blitzing of Baylor. It hasn't won a Big Ten title since 1967, and hasn't beaten Ohio State since 1988.

But mostly, though, Allen wants to battle with his teammates one last time and go out on his terms.

"When you put it all together," he says, "I felt it was the perfect way to come back and finish the right way."

In the end, it seems, it hurts very good.

Indiana University Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Thomas Allen

Cam Jones

Micah McFadden

Related Videos