Can NC State football's top 2022 recruit end his prep career with a state championship?
N.C. State football’s top incoming recruit is two wins away from a storybook ending.
Michael Allen, a four-star 2022 running back at Greenville’s J.H. Rose High School, delivered three total touchdowns on Friday to propel his team into this week’s NCHSAA 3A Eastern Regional Championship.
Allen ran 18 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes, including a 24-yard score on a fourth down, in the Rampants’ 49-28 fourth-round win over Scotland, The Daily Reflector reported.
The 5-foot-9 senior dynamo’s play helped J.H. Rose advance to its first regional championship since 2015 after an 0-3 start this fall. The Rampants (10-4) will host conference foe Jacksonville (11-2) on Friday with a 3A title appearance at stake, and the winner of that game will play either Dudley or South Point.
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Allen, who verbally committed to the Wolfpack in June, ranks as the No. 6 senior recruit in the state as well as the No. 20 running back and No. 240 recruit in the state, per 247Sports composite rankings.
He’s certainly lived up to the billing this month with big playoff performances against Croatan (186 total yards, three touchdowns) and Terry Sanford (115 yards, two touchdowns) fueling a stellar senior season.
Allen had scholarships from 15 Division I programs, including Arkansas, Duke, nearby East Carolina, UNC, South Carolina and Wisconsin, before opting for coach Dave Doeren’s program after an official visit this summer. He’s the top commit in a Wolfpack class that ranks ninth in the ACC and 51st in the country.
Blessed. Job ain’t done #WPN pic.twitter.com/k1ZwcYrRdW
— Michael Allen (@MichaelAllen8_) June 18, 2021
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A multi-sport star who runs track, Allen already scored one NCHSAA state championship in June when J.H. Rose swept Cox Mill to win the 3A baseball state championship. Two wins over the next two weeks would give the Rampants their sixth football state championship (1975, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006).
It would also add to an impressive run of NCHSAA state championships by prominent N.C. State recruits this calendar year. Four-star 2021 basketball recruit Terquavion Smith won a third consecutive state title with Farmville Central in March, and three-star 2021 basketball recruit Breon Pass won a third straight football title with Reidsville in May. Both are now playing out their freshman seasons for Kevin Keatts.
On the football front, three-star 2022 Cary center Rylan Vann also followed in older brother Davin’s footsteps by winning an individual wrestling state title in the 4A classification’s heavyweight division.
Read more: Can N.C. State basketball commit Breon Pass repeat as a football champion with Reidsville?
Read more: Can N.C. State football commit Rylan Vann end his junior year as a championship wrestler?
Allen and Vann are two of seven in-state players verbally committed to N.C. State’s class of 2022. The five others are: four-star A.L. Brown linebacker Torren Wright, three-star East Forsyth cornerback Isaiah Crowell, three-star Whiteville linebacker Daejuan Thompson, three-star Southern Nash cornerback Jackson Vick and three-star Northern Guilford wide receiver Terrell Timmons Jr.
Chapel Fowler is a recruiting reporter for The Fayetteville Observer and the USA TODAY Network. Reach him by email at cfowler@gannett.com or on Twitter at @chapelfowler.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC State football recruit Michael Allen on verge of NCHSAA championship
