Ryan Allen didn’t become a NFL punter by accident.
His dream of becoming a professional football player drove him in a way that few can truly comprehend.
There were plenty of occasions when he would come out to West Salem High School’s football field in the cold, driving rain with a bag of footballs, kick all 10 of them, gather them back together and kick them again in an endless loop.
Even when his high school teammates at West Salem were highly recruited to play college football and signed letters of intent Allen continued to work at the game on his own to try to get a shot.
West Salem graduate Ryan Allen, left, makes a tackle in 2013.
There are athletes who make big dreams.
It is truly a chosen few who have the combination of athletic ability and the willingness to work hard enough to accomplish it.
“I think Ryan seized that opportunity,” said West Salem coach Shawn Stanley. “Just a guy who had a dream of what he wanted to be.”
When Allen’s New England Patriots play in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, it will be his second Super Bowl
To be still playing the game at the age of 27 and in his fourth year in the NFL is exactly where Allen planned to be, but it’s nothing he takes for granted.
“It’s a dream come true,” Allen said in September.
Allen keeps in touch with Stanley and offered him tickets to the AFC championship game against Pittsburgh, but Stanley couldn’t work it out.
Despite his success as a professional football player, Allen hasn’t let his four years as a professional football player or the money he’s making – he’s in the first year of a $6.1 million contract signed in 2015 – change his view of the world.
“Same guy he’s always been,” Stanley said. “Obviously has more money in the bank, but just a genuinely good guy. Although I really respect he job he does, he’s always conscious of the fact that he is a punter. I’m sure it’s pretty tough in that locker room to puff your chest out too much when you’re surrounded by giant guys.
“He’s always been humble and gracious and the same guy he was. Even when he was here, he was always confident. I’ve probably seen his confidence grow obviously a ton since he was here, not that he was not confident. Just how he carries himself.”
Though Allen was successful and highly regarded in high school – he was first-team all-state as a senior – people didn’t see the sacrifices he made.
When he was going to high school Allen frequently made trips out of state to train with Chris Sailer, then one of the few personal coaches in the world for punters and kickers.
That work with Sailer not only was instrumental in Allen’s improvement to the level of player he would become, but it also got him exposure with college coaches, and helped get his foot in the door at Oregon State and later at Louisiana Tech.
“Again, just a self-made guy,” Stanley said. “He had a goal, and he found a way to get the best training with Chris Sailer, worked on his own. It’s a part of football that’s obviously a skill.
“If you play linebacker, kind of in the offseason your skill building is getting bigger, stronger, maybe playing other sports. You don’t practice tackling and all the skills that go into the game because the physical part where punting and kicking, snapping are like shooting a basketball, technical skills that you can work year round.”
When Allen first came to school at West Salem in 2007 after transferring from South Salem, he was already a good punter and kicker at the high school level.
Ryan Allen, right, shown making a tackle for South Salem in 2006, is in his fourth year with the New England Patriots.
But there was one area he needed work.
Quite a bit.
“He hadn’t done a lot of strength training, he was really stiff when he got here, pretty inflexible when he got here, even for a punter,” Stanley said. “I’ve said before he’s a self-made man, but I think that’s one thing we helped him improve a little bit.
“There’s an exercise, we do this catcher’s squat, and he’s one of the worst all time squat guys. It’s more of a groin mobility deal, but yeah he was pretty bad at it. I know I think as he got into college, he worked on more on that aspect of the game.”
Allen has tried to put on punting camps at West Salem, but the logistics haven’t worked out yet.
But you can still find Allen’s impression at the school.
He’s sent New England Patriots jerseys and other memorabilia, which can been seen around the school.
And there is a Golden Football in West Salem’s trophy case from the Super Bowl High School Honor Roll.
“I don’t know if they win it if we get another one or not,” Stanley said.
“I don’t know the long-term history of staying power of athletes from this area. But he’s got to be one of the guys who’s stuck around the longest.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler