SIAA Freak of the Week: LeQuint Allen
"Freak" is a term thrown around too much in the sports world, but sometimes, it's the first phrase that crowds the cranium when a gaudy athletic feat takes place.
What about an entire game's worth of head-turning and gasps?
SI All-American continues its salute to these dominant high school football players in a weekly feature, aptly titled 'Freak of the Week,' going out to a remarkable Friday night performance.
Narrowing the list in Week 3 wasn't easy, as several performers were under consideration from Penn State commitment Drew Allar, who broke a county passing record with a 523-yard, 5-touchdown passing performance, Toledo two-way prospect Terrell Crosby with four interceptions in one game or the 8-touchdown effort from Elite 11 finalist Luther Richesson on 22 of 29 passing.
But it's another two-way performance, that of LeQuint Allen, that took home Week 3 Freak of the Week honors.
The Syracuse verbal commitment out of Millville (N.J.) High School put up 304 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards and six offensive touchdowns (five rushing) in addition to hauling in an interception and breaking up multiple passes while working on defense in the 49-39 win over Medford (N.J.) Shawnee High School.
The interception ended Shawnee's first drive of the night and set the tone for what was to come from the class of 2022 prospect thereafter.
Projected to play running back for the Orange, Allen reflected on the performance and actually deferred credit to his teammates.
"The O-line and wide receivers blocked well all night, bringing the pain," he told All Syracuse. "There's more room for improvement, though.
"I'm never satisfied."
Allen, who is listed in the 6', 185-pound range, committed to the Orange in March and has helped the Millville Thunderbolts to a 3-0 start to the 2021 season on both sides of the ball. MHS is averaging 47.3 points per game on offense thanks in part to the senior's consistency at running back as both a runner and receiver out of the backfield.
Allen is averaging just under 200 rushing yards per game while playing in the secondary on defense.
Picking Syracuse over Virginia, West Virginia, Rutgers and others, Allen is the only running back in the ACC program's 12-man recruiting class to date.
2021 Freak of the Week Archive
Week 0 - Pike Road (Ala.) Quarterback Iverson Hooks
Week 1 - Port St. Lucie (Fla.) Running Back Eden James
Week 2 - Gautier (Miss.) High School Quarterback Kaden Irving