On the eve of the national title game, Penn State received some good news for their hopes of making it to the same contest next year.
Junior safety Marcus Allen announced on his Twitter account Sunday night that he would not be declaring early for the 2017 NFL Draft and would instead be returning to State College for his senior season.
Allen led the Nittany Lions in tackles last year, racking up 110 stops to rank third in the Big Ten in the same category. He was memorably responsible for blocking the field goal that helped beat Ohio State in 2016 and came up with several key plays in the Big Ten title game.
The return of Allen should only further enhance the team’s profile heading into 2017 as they look to repeat as conference champions. While fellow defender Garrett Sickels is moving on to the NFL, linebacker Jason Cabinda said he was coming back for another go around and the team should have the bulk of their two-deep returning on both sides of the ball.
Allen will have to help break in another safety in the secondary with the graduation of Malik Golden, but the return of the defensive stopper is no doubt a welcome bit of news for Penn State as they move past that heartbreaking Rose Bowl loss and look ahead to a promising 2017.