Gator Country

We won't get a pity party from Armando Allen. The electrifying back from south Florida broke a bone in his leg last Thursday and he will miss about eight weeks of the season but Allen doesn't want to hear about what might have been. All he wants is to take whatever games remain when he gets back and help his team win.

Allen wants the attention on his Hialeah Miami-Lakes teammates. He plans on making sure he does his part to get them motivated and ready for his return at the end of the year. This injury is not the end of the world, and for Allen, he wants to use it as motivation for him and his teammates.

“I am taking it all right because it could have been a lot worse,” Allen said Monday. “I am not really down. I just know I am going to have to come back stronger.”

It was a freak accident, the kind of thing that happens in football. To hear him talk about what happened may make the squeamish stop reading, but it is one of those things in this contact sport that has to be overcome sometimes.

“I was tackled from behind by my collar,” he said. “I planted with my left leg and my foot stuck in the ground. As I was falling someone landed on my ankle at the same time and it twisted in a bad way.”

There has been some disparity on exactly where the injury occurred, but according to Allen, he should be back for the end of the season and a playoff run.

“It was my tibia,” he said. “They said I will be out for about six weeks. They did surgery on Friday after the game on Thursday. They think 6-8 weeks I should be able to play.”

Allen is a go-getter. He is taking night classes now so that he can finish high school a semester early and enroll at his college choice in January. He promised himself and others that he would win a state title in the 110-meter hurdles before he left school and he accomplished that. It is this kind of dedication and strength from Armando Allen that make him a special person and the kind of leader that will help his team get better even though he might not be on the field.

“Actually it all depends on my attitude and the type of attitude I am showing (to my teammates),” he said. “I am letting them know they can do it without me. I was a big part of the offense, but just because I am gone, doesn’t mean they should stop.”

Allen thinks by him being out, the team will have to be that much better in order to win. When he finally does return, they will be much improved in areas without depending on him to carry the load.

“That is exactly what the case is going to be,” he said. “This is something that will make us better in the end for me and the entire team.”

He will be home all week while the surgery sores drain from his leg. He gets fitted for a hard cast on Friday and will be able to return back to school next week. It is something he is already relishing.

“I will be out at practice motivating my team to get better and push them harder,” he said.

In the mean time college coaches have been in touch. The ones that have contacted him have let him know that he is still one that they really want.

“I have heard from most of the coaches that are recruiting me,” Allen said. “They are all telling me to keep my head up and that nothing has changed.”

This wasn’t really a time to get into recruiting with Armando Allen. It’s not that he wouldn’t talk about it, but Allen is a very focused person that has a lot on his mind at this point in time. The words shown here from the young man show the strong character he has and certainly lets everyone know he will be back, most likely better than ever.

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