Texas Tech football all-decade team: The linebackers

2nd-team: Dakota Allen

Our 2nd-team selection is one of the most popular and inspiring players in program history, Dakota Allen.  In two different stints with the Red Raiders from 2015-18, he made 249 tackles, four interceptions, and 3 fumble recoveries.  In fact, had he been a Red Raider for all four years and hit is season average of 83 tackles, he would have finished just outside the top 10 in Tech history with 332 tackles, six behind safety Ryan Aycock.

Of course, we all know why his sophomore year was spent at East Mississippi Community College.  In June of 2016, he was arrested with two teammates for burglarizing a Lubbock residence and all three players were subsequently kicked off the team.

But eventually, the charges were dismissed and Allen was allowed to return to the Red Raiders. As a junior, he made the most of that opportunity with a career-high 101 tackles and two picks.

Earning second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2017, he was one of the best linebackers in the nation.  Unfortunately, his senior season was hampered by nagging injuries causing his tackle total to drop to just 61 as he played in only 10 of his team’s 12 games.

Allen will be remembered more for what happened off the field, both positively and negatively, than for his on-field accomplishments.  However, even if he would not have taken his detour through Scooba, Mississippi in 2016, he would have been one of the most memorable Red Raider linebackers of the decade.  But thanks to his inspirational story of redemption, he is a player Tech fans will long point to as an example of how college sports can help shape a boy into a man in more ways than one.