James Allen’s journey to becoming a player Penn State and other major college programs would be interested in started in the eighth grade.
Well, technically, it started years before that, when he began playing football.
But Allen got his first taste of Friday Night Lights earlier than most players do.
If you’re an eighth-grader playing football, chances are you’re on the middle school team. Some above-average ones end up playing JV. But Allen found himself starting on the varsity at Carrollwood Day High School in Tampa, Florida.
Allen’s first start came against a formidable opponent in Booker, which ended up making it to that year’s state semifinals.
The kid held his own, breaking up a pass and picking up a tackle for loss.
“I made a couple plays in that game,” Allen told Nittany Sports Now, “so I just like getting comfortable. And then just like getting used to the speed of the game, because it’s a lot different. So, I mean, yeah, I would just say it was cool out there. You know, I just. I was just trying to make plays and try not to seem like. Like, make it like I belonged out there instead of like making it seem like, oh yeah, he’s just an eighth grader.
As an eighth grader, Allen proved he belonged.
As a freshman, he became a star cornerback.
He ended the 2025 season with seven interceptions, a pair of fumble recoveries, 30 tackles and nine pass breakups.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“I was like, dang, like, I didn’t expect to be here this early,” Allen said.
So, what does Allen attribute his success to?
“All season, it was just like I was grinding nonstop,” he said, and I always had a mindset like I always stay after practice and get some extra work in because you know, if I do twenty minutes every day after practice, thirty minutes after practice every day, then that’s like we have practice four times a week. An hour and twenty minutes more every week that I am gonna do more to you, and then week by week that I keep stacking on. That’s like it’s gonna be like four hours, five hours a month that I am just putting in more time to you. And then it’s just like the separation just keeps getting bigger. It’s gonna be hard to like, I’ll just put in more work than you.
Allen has offers from schools such as Alabama, Auburn, Cal, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kansas State, Kentucky, LSU, Lousiville, Maryland, Miami, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pitt, Rutgers, SMU, Syracuse, Texas A&M, UCF, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and now Penn State.
Penn State’s coaches aren’t allowed to directly reach out to Allen, since he’s still not even a sophomore.
But running backs coach Savon Huggins offered Allen’s teammate, Kameron Battle, a three-star from the Class of 2028, so Allen got his offer through Huggins.
Over the summer, Allen plans to visit Maryland, Georgia, and Ohio State, and hopes to visit Penn State at some point.
“I’ll definitely try to get up there,” he said. “Probably talk with my parents, see if I can make it a trip. But I do want to get up and see the campus. It’s a very beautiful campus.”
