Digging deep into Josh Allen's historic season
Josh Allen (Nagurski)
Justin Rowland • CatsIllustrated.com
@RowlandRIVALS
Josh Allen smashed and rewrote the Kentucky record book in 2018 and the honors are flowing in.
On Monday, the senior Kentucky edge defender (once a three-star recruit by Rivals.com) was named the Associated Press SEC Defensive Player of the Year, a first team All-SEC selection and the recipient of the Nagurski Award, which goes to the nation's top defensive player.
Those are deserving honors for the man who had 52 tackles and 14 sacks, spearheading a Kentucky defensive rise that was among the most impressive unit improvements in all of college football.
Much has been written about Allen's offseason commitment to adding good weight and his lower body transformation in particular was immediately noticeable before the start of the season. Building himself up for the grind of a 12-game schedule in the SEC helped Allen sustain his elite level of play on the back half, where he faltered a year ago, and now he's poised to be picked in the Top-10 of next year's NFL Draft.
Thanks to our relationship with Pro Football Focus, we can really dig into some unique numbers and angles that illustrate just how good Allen was in 2018.
Allen actually played fewer snaps than last season
That's due in part to the fact that Kentucky saw fewer snaps defensively than in previous years. The defense was better, thanks in large part to Allen, so they forced more three-and-outs and gave up fewer longer drives.
Allen saw 760 snaps in 12 games, compared to 837 a year ago.
Some of that is because Allen was able to play sparingly in games against Central Michigan (40 snaps), Murray State (28 snaps), MTSU (33 snaps) and Louisville (26 snaps). But he played at least 50 snaps in every Southeastern Conference game for the Wildcats with a high mark of 69 against Texas A&M in College Station, with the defense fighting to give Kentucky a shot in that game.
He managed to be impactful in every single game
Against Georgia, Allen had a relatively quiet game. No sacks, no tackles for loss. It was Kentucky's worst defensive performance of the season.
Even in that game, however, Allen managed to fall on two Georgia fumbles creating turnovers for the Wildcats. Those plays were among the highlights of an otherwise forgettable SEC East championship contest for his team.
By the numbers, Allen was most dominant against South Carolina (3 sacks, 4 tackles for loss), but it's extremely difficult to say which game he was most impactful in.
Against Mississippi State, there were a number of Bulldog penalties (pre-snap or holds) that Allen essentially forced, which moved MSU backwards and set the table for the offense to rattle off 28 points, the most Joe Moorhead's team surrendered all season.
On the road in Columbia, Mo., Allen had two sacks against a team that doesn't surrender many of those. He was a huge reason that the Tigers, amazingly, had zero second half first downs. Eventually that allowed Kentucky to make enough plays to squeak out a dramatic 15-14 victory.
Even when Allen wasn't sacking quarterbacks, dragging down ball-carriers, forcing penalties (or other flags that could have been thrown), opposing teams drew up game plans to avoid him and neutralize his pass rushing prowess. Against Florida, he made a tremendous play in coverage to deflect a pass on a two-point conversion throw back attempt against the flow of the defense. And that wasn't his only great play in coverage.
Allen's grades for the season
Pro Football Focus named Allen a first team defensive All-American for his play in 2018 and their numbers made that an easy call, it seems.
His season grade of 91.8 puts him in elite company. That number is the result of an 83.5 run defense grade, which illustrates his improvement from recent seasons. That improvement was dramatic, as Allen's run defense grade in 2017's 13 games was a pedestrian 59.3. A season ago Allen's tackling grade was a 69.2. This season, that number rose to a fantastic 88.9, one of the best in the nation for his position. His pass rush grade was almost off the charts at 93.6.
By the numbers, as one might have suspected, Allen's low overall grade was against Georgia (64.1), when he struggled to tackle as did the rest of Kentucky's defense. But he was above 90 in two games, against Vanderbilt (90.7) and Missouri (91.0). His overall grade was below 70 (still well above average) in all but two games, UGA and Tennessee.
Perhaps most impressive was Allen's coverage grade (82.1), which was excellent for a linebacker/edge defender.
In addition to Allen's 14 sacks, he put an additional nine hits on opposing quarterbacks and accounted for a whopping 28 quarterback hurries. Of his 50-plus tackles on the season, 48 (roughly 90%) were categorized as "stops", or wins for the defense.
Allen forced five fumbles, which put him near the top of the national rankings. And that has been a strength throughout his career.
Opposing quarterbacks completed 13 of 19 passes (68.4%) to players Allen was covering but those completions only went for 130 yards. Of that total, 52 game against Central Michigan in the season opener. So over Kentucky's final 11 games, Allen only allowed 78 passing yards while in coverage. He allowed only two completions of longer than 20 yards on the season, and after the season's first game he virtually eliminated yards after the catch. Most teams attempt to isolate opposing linebackers for coverage mismatches. Against Allen, those mismatches were not there.
Allen was the second highest-graded edge defender in college football overall with more than 100 snaps behind only Nick Bosa for Ohio State (93.1), but Bosa saw only 113 snaps before his injury.
He ranked 36th among all edge defenders in run defense, third among all edge defenders in tackling and was the No. 1 edge defender in college football, by a wide margin, according to PFF's pass rush grade. Pair all of that with the No. 25 coverage grade ranking among all edge defenders nationally and there's a strong case to be made that Allen was the most well-rounded defensive player in college football. In other words, not just the best, but the most versatile.
His 48 "stops" tied for the college football lead among edge defenders (with ECU's Nate Harvey) and his forced fumbles tied for first with Patrick Johnson (Tulane), Malik Carney (UNC) and Trevis Gipson (Tulsa).
Allen was also flagged for just three penalties on all season, on roughly 700 snaps, and one of those was declined.
PFF charged Allen with only four missed tackles all season, and in terms of "tackling efficiency" (the number of missed tackles compared to overall tackles) Allen ranked 3rd in the country among edge defenders. So in addition to being spectacular, he was steady.
Allen rushed the passer 62.2-percent of the time he was in the game. In terms of "PRP" (formula combining sacks, hits and hurries relative to how many times someone rushes the passer), Allen was the No. 1 edge defender in college football. He tended to rush from the right side (11 sacks) more than the left (3 sacks), and he was much more successful and efficient on his rushes from that side.
Given all those numbers it's not a surprise that Allen has been recognized as the best in the SEC and the best in college football.
And it's safe to say, he's set a new defensive standard at Kentucky.
There may be a case to be made that he's had the best season of any player, at any position, in UK football history.
Josh Allen (Nagurski)
Justin Rowland • CatsIllustrated.com
@RowlandRIVALS
Josh Allen smashed and rewrote the Kentucky record book in 2018 and the honors are flowing in.
On Monday, the senior Kentucky edge defender (once a three-star recruit by Rivals.com) was named the Associated Press SEC Defensive Player of the Year, a first team All-SEC selection and the recipient of the Nagurski Award, which goes to the nation's top defensive player.
Those are deserving honors for the man who had 52 tackles and 14 sacks, spearheading a Kentucky defensive rise that was among the most impressive unit improvements in all of college football.
Much has been written about Allen's offseason commitment to adding good weight and his lower body transformation in particular was immediately noticeable before the start of the season. Building himself up for the grind of a 12-game schedule in the SEC helped Allen sustain his elite level of play on the back half, where he faltered a year ago, and now he's poised to be picked in the Top-10 of next year's NFL Draft.
Thanks to our relationship with Pro Football Focus, we can really dig into some unique numbers and angles that illustrate just how good Allen was in 2018.
Allen actually played fewer snaps than last season
That's due in part to the fact that Kentucky saw fewer snaps defensively than in previous years. The defense was better, thanks in large part to Allen, so they forced more three-and-outs and gave up fewer longer drives.
Allen saw 760 snaps in 12 games, compared to 837 a year ago.
Some of that is because Allen was able to play sparingly in games against Central Michigan (40 snaps), Murray State (28 snaps), MTSU (33 snaps) and Louisville (26 snaps). But he played at least 50 snaps in every Southeastern Conference game for the Wildcats with a high mark of 69 against Texas A&M in College Station, with the defense fighting to give Kentucky a shot in that game.
He managed to be impactful in every single game
Against Georgia, Allen had a relatively quiet game. No sacks, no tackles for loss. It was Kentucky's worst defensive performance of the season.
Even in that game, however, Allen managed to fall on two Georgia fumbles creating turnovers for the Wildcats. Those plays were among the highlights of an otherwise forgettable SEC East championship contest for his team.
By the numbers, Allen was most dominant against South Carolina (3 sacks, 4 tackles for loss), but it's extremely difficult to say which game he was most impactful in.
Against Mississippi State, there were a number of Bulldog penalties (pre-snap or holds) that Allen essentially forced, which moved MSU backwards and set the table for the offense to rattle off 28 points, the most Joe Moorhead's team surrendered all season.
On the road in Columbia, Mo., Allen had two sacks against a team that doesn't surrender many of those. He was a huge reason that the Tigers, amazingly, had zero second half first downs. Eventually that allowed Kentucky to make enough plays to squeak out a dramatic 15-14 victory.
Even when Allen wasn't sacking quarterbacks, dragging down ball-carriers, forcing penalties (or other flags that could have been thrown), opposing teams drew up game plans to avoid him and neutralize his pass rushing prowess. Against Florida, he made a tremendous play in coverage to deflect a pass on a two-point conversion throw back attempt against the flow of the defense. And that wasn't his only great play in coverage.
Allen's grades for the season
Pro Football Focus named Allen a first team defensive All-American for his play in 2018 and their numbers made that an easy call, it seems.
His season grade of 91.8 puts him in elite company. That number is the result of an 83.5 run defense grade, which illustrates his improvement from recent seasons. That improvement was dramatic, as Allen's run defense grade in 2017's 13 games was a pedestrian 59.3. A season ago Allen's tackling grade was a 69.2. This season, that number rose to a fantastic 88.9, one of the best in the nation for his position. His pass rush grade was almost off the charts at 93.6.
By the numbers, as one might have suspected, Allen's low overall grade was against Georgia (64.1), when he struggled to tackle as did the rest of Kentucky's defense. But he was above 90 in two games, against Vanderbilt (90.7) and Missouri (91.0). His overall grade was below 70 (still well above average) in all but two games, UGA and Tennessee.
Perhaps most impressive was Allen's coverage grade (82.1), which was excellent for a linebacker/edge defender.
In addition to Allen's 14 sacks, he put an additional nine hits on opposing quarterbacks and accounted for a whopping 28 quarterback hurries. Of his 50-plus tackles on the season, 48 (roughly 90%) were categorized as "stops", or wins for the defense.
Allen forced five fumbles, which put him near the top of the national rankings. And that has been a strength throughout his career.
Opposing quarterbacks completed 13 of 19 passes (68.4%) to players Allen was covering but those completions only went for 130 yards. Of that total, 52 game against Central Michigan in the season opener. So over Kentucky's final 11 games, Allen only allowed 78 passing yards while in coverage. He allowed only two completions of longer than 20 yards on the season, and after the season's first game he virtually eliminated yards after the catch. Most teams attempt to isolate opposing linebackers for coverage mismatches. Against Allen, those mismatches were not there.
Allen was the second highest-graded edge defender in college football overall with more than 100 snaps behind only Nick Bosa for Ohio State (93.1), but Bosa saw only 113 snaps before his injury.
He ranked 36th among all edge defenders in run defense, third among all edge defenders in tackling and was the No. 1 edge defender in college football, by a wide margin, according to PFF's pass rush grade. Pair all of that with the No. 25 coverage grade ranking among all edge defenders nationally and there's a strong case to be made that Allen was the most well-rounded defensive player in college football. In other words, not just the best, but the most versatile.
His 48 "stops" tied for the college football lead among edge defenders (with ECU's Nate Harvey) and his forced fumbles tied for first with Patrick Johnson (Tulane), Malik Carney (UNC) and Trevis Gipson (Tulsa).
Allen was also flagged for just three penalties on all season, on roughly 700 snaps, and one of those was declined.
PFF charged Allen with only four missed tackles all season, and in terms of "tackling efficiency" (the number of missed tackles compared to overall tackles) Allen ranked 3rd in the country among edge defenders. So in addition to being spectacular, he was steady.
Allen rushed the passer 62.2-percent of the time he was in the game. In terms of "PRP" (formula combining sacks, hits and hurries relative to how many times someone rushes the passer), Allen was the No. 1 edge defender in college football. He tended to rush from the right side (11 sacks) more than the left (3 sacks), and he was much more successful and efficient on his rushes from that side.
Given all those numbers it's not a surprise that Allen has been recognized as the best in the SEC and the best in college football.
And it's safe to say, he's set a new defensive standard at Kentucky.
There may be a case to be made that he's had the best season of any player, at any position, in UK football history.
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