snow now and then, but it was worth
it to keep up with their obsession.

On the days they couldn’t quite

make it outside, they still found a
way.

“We had an indoor net in the

basement,” Joe said. “I think our
ceiling was about eight or nine feet,
and every time they kicked, it would
hit the ceiling tile. It was like non-
stop.”

Part of the football infatuation may

have evolved from the lack of things
to do in a small Michigan town, too.

“There wasn’t really much to do

in Fenton,” Kenny said. “There’s a
lot of lakes, a football field and some
places to eat. But yeah, there’s not
much to do.

“I spent most of my time kicking.”
When his brother graduated in

2010, Kenny took over the starting
kicker role and quit soccer for good.
Then, the practicing grew even more
incessant.

“People used to joke, every time

they drove by the high school in
Fenton, they would see balls flying
through the air,” Stacey said. “He
was there every day, non-stop,
practicing. He was just so focused
and dedicated. For me, maybe (I’m)
just being Mom, but all he needed
was an opportunity, and he would get
what he was looking for.”

Allen finally ended up with his

opportunity last season, but it wasn’t
the one anyone was expecting.
Australian
punter
Blake
O’Neill

showed up on campus as a graduate
transfer, and if Allen wanted to get on
the field that season, he would have
to find another way.

“It’s bad enough that someone

new came in to punt and he was a
male model,” Kenny said. “I’m just
like sitting behind this great punter
who’s also super good-looking. But
Blake is one of my
best friends, he’s an
awesome guy.

“It kind of sucked,

but that’s what they
wanted and I’m not
going to argue with
them.”

Watching
from

the
stands,
there

wasn’t
much
that

Stacey and Joe could
do.

“He
expected,

you know, Big Ten football, you’re
going to wait your turn,” Stacey said.
“And he had waited his turn, and
then he had to wait a little longer.
I mean that’s just part of it. He’s so
happy to be a part of this team. I
mean, really, for him, it was just a
little glitch. Just a glitch. He was so
happy just to be here.”

Still,
Allen’s
competitive
fire

pushed him. After three years of
letting placekicking duties fall to the
wayside, he decided that they would
have to be his ticket to starting. It

took him the first week of fall camp to
“knock the rust off,” but he was able
to work his way into the competition.
With a new coach who places a
premium on competition, Allen knew
he would have to prove he was good

enough to play.

In between the

Utah game and the
Wolverines’
home

opener
against

Oregon
State,

Kenny
earned

a
scholarship.

Fittingly, the news
came
just
before

he was to face the
only team that had
offered him a full
ride out of high

school. That Saturday, he went 2-for-
2 on field goal attempts.

***

Allen is now comfortable in his

role for the Wolverines, not allowing
much to bother him. Those years of
practice in the Fenton snow have
solidified that mindset.

Not even his parents, as close as

they are to Kenny, talk football with
him anymore.

“We’re just parents,” Joe said.

“Football, he does, and we want to
be there as a backup support, but
we don’t wanna talk about — I think
I did enough when we talk about
actual kicking, when we go out
kicking together — but we want to
leave the football and everything else
he does alone. We don’t ask him any
questions about who the starters are
or anything else. We just let it go.”

The kicking role is just as mental

as it is physical. During games, you
can watch Allen walk up and down
the sidelines by himself, sometimes
sitting on the bench far away from
the other players. He needs to stay
locked in and focused for nearly four
hours at a time. While every kicker
deals with the pressure differently, it
seems Allen deals with it by taking a
step back.

“It’s a unique position,” Sailer said.

“You’re not the quarterback. You’re
not the wide receiver who gets a ton
of the glory. You’re someone who’s
counted on in certain situations and
expected to perform. If you perform,
it’s a great deal and you’re the hero
for the week. If you don’t perform,
unfortunately, you’re really the goat
of the week, and they’ll put all of the
blame of the loss on you sometimes.”

Kenny doesn’t often feel anxious

5
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com

RYAN MCLAUGHLIN/Daily

Allen now performs all three duties in special teams for the Wolverines — kickoffs (above), punting and field goals. He earned a scholarship early last season.

See ALLEN, Page 6B

“There wasn’t
really much to
do. ... I spent

most of my time

kicking.”

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily