Fifteen Questions for Breon Allen

By W.A. Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

East Carolina running back Breon Allen is listed at 5 feet, 8 inches and 190 pounds. He once referred to himself as "Fun Size" and teammates have made the nickname stick. The transfer from Snow (Idaho) College had 62 carries for 321 yards and five touchdowns in 2013 as a back-up to Vintavious Cooper. He also had nine catches for 130 yards as a junior.

Thus far in his senior season, Allen has rushed for 389 yards on 43 carries with three scores. A considerable portion of that production came in a 70-41 win over North Carolina when Allen ran 18 times for 211 yards with two touchdowns. He is averaging 8.8 yards per rush for the No. 19 Pirates. He also has 14 catches for 100 yards.

A communications major, Allen made the Honor Roll for the spring 2014 semester. The Daytona Beach product returns to his home state for Saturday night's game at South Florida.

Allen spoke with Bonesville after practice Tuesday evening.

Q: Favorite restaurant in Greenville?

A: GK Cafe.

Q: Favorite TV show?

A: 'Tom & Jerry.'

Q: What's the toughest part of being a collegiate athlete?

A: Man, there's nothing tough about being a collegiate athlete. If anything, probably summer workouts.

Q: How did going to junior college affect you as a player?

A: It made me grow up. It made me appreciate the smaller things in life, it humbled me a lot.

Q: You seem to be pretty patient waiting for blockers to open up gaps. Is it tough to hold back in those situations?

A: Sometimes. When you first come back from the summer, being off a long time, about 6 months on and off... it's tough to wait then... but when you're patient, the more patient you are, the bigger runs you break and the more yards you get, so I don't mind being patient.

Q: Is it difficult to disregard the outside noise that comes with being nationally ranked?

A: No, not at all. Coach Ruff does a great job of keeping us level-headed, coach Connors does a great job of keeping us level-headed, and we've all got our minds set on one goal, so we really don't pay much attention to that.

Q: What do you enjoy doing besides football?

A: Hanging out with my teammates, just hanging out with people in general. I enjoy making people smile, making people laugh, getting to know people. It's always cool to get to know new people.

Q: Do you have any pre-game rituals or routines?

A: I listen to Adele, the '21' album. While I was in juco, some of my teammates got me listening to it and I fell in love with it a little bit.

Q: ECU has never beaten USF. What does this team have to do to change that?

A: Be ourselves. Do what we do best. If we work hard and have a great week of practice and go out there and play hard and I'm pretty sure everything will take of itself.

Q: What led you to choose East Carolina coming out of junior college?

A: The family atmosphere. When I came here, they didn't lie to me, they didn't try to boost my head up, they looked me in my eyes and told me, 'If you work hard, you'll have a place here, you can get some playing time here.' They kept it completely real with me. That's what swayed me to come here.

Q: What would you say is your strongest attribute as a running back?

A: My blocking. Any running back can run and do the flashy things, but I can block really well. That's a part of my game that doesn't really get noticed.

Q: Who's been the most influential person in your life?

A: My mom, she's a warrior. I could go on and on about her, but she's just a warrior. She raised me and my four sisters by herself. She never gave up on us and was always positive, always made sure we were taken care of — she's my hero.

Q: What is your favorite football memory?

A: I'm going to categorize it to my favorite football memory at ECU. It's singing the fight song after putting up 70 points on North Carolina.

Q: How important is it for the team to play in front of a full Dowdy-Ficklen stadium?

A: The best fans in the world live in Greenville, NC. The more they're behind us, the better we play. It's important, it's huge, we love getting that support from our family.

Q: What is your favorite thing about ECU?

A: The people, just the city in general. The college town, people are nice, we have beautiful girls, cool guys, the professor are pretty nice — just the family atmosphere and everyone loves football. I think that's pretty cool.

E-mail W.A. Myatt.

PAGE UPDATED 10/08/14 02:36 AM