Braelon Allen and Jim Leonhard address rumors: 'I was taken aback by it'
IOWA CITY - Braelon Allen didn’t think he'd be addressing rumors linking him to other schools this week.
Instead, this past Friday, Wisconsin's sophomore tailback was left answering questions about USC and Michigan on an appearance on 97.3 The Game. His response was as such: “The only thing I can really say for me is, On Wisconsin. And as long as Coach Leonhard is here, that’s where I’ll be.”
Rumors sparked Wednesday when Michigan reporter Chris Balas responded to a comment about an elite level running back looking to enter the transfer portal and join Michigan. Balas said, “yes, it is Braelon Allen. But now that it’s out, we’ll see what happens.”
USC joined the list of connections to Allen after it was shared on Twitter that Allen had recently followed Michigan running backs coach Mike Hart and USC running backs coach Kiel McDonald.
All that left the abysmal performance from the offense against the Hawkeyes far down the list of questions from reporters Saturday evening. After answering a pair of questions about Iowa's defense and his hurt shoulder, Allen was left fielding all sorts of inquires from the media about the rumors.
“I honestly haven’t had any contact with Michigan and that’s the honest truth,” Allen, inside the small visiting media room in Kinnick Stadium, said.
Allen noted he has a friend who is a receiver at Michigan but had no contact with the school.
“I was taken aback by it because like I said, I had never talked to anybody from Michigan besides my friend, who I keep in contact with on a regular basis,” Allen said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a distraction, just a little surprised by it.
"I had to talk to the guys a little bit and just tell them that’s not true. I’m focused on you guys, focused on the guys in the room. I love you guys and I’m going to play for you until the end of the year.”
Allen was shocked when he checked his phone on Wednesday and saw a text from a friend, who had sent him a screenshot of the speculation. Allen's friend had asked him what the speculation was about, to which Allen responded with just as much confusion.
“It snuck up on me because it was a message board,” he said. “Whoever said that, I 100 percent never talked to him and he doesn’t know me, doesn’t know what’s going through my head, so how he got that supposed information doesn’t make sense.”
Part of his responses included another vote of confidence in favor of interim head coach Jim Leonhard.
“We’ve made it pretty clear as a team that we want Coach Leonhard to be our coach and I thought I made it pretty clear with what I said on the radio,” Allen said. “It is what it is. We want Coach Leonhard to be our head coach. We’re going to continue to play for him to get him that job. Until then just focused on us and winning ball games this year.”
Through 10 games, Allen has rushed for 1,029 yards and 10 touchdowns, eclipsing 1,000 yards for the second straight season. With at least a year left until he can move on from college football, if Allen chooses to do so, the question are left swirling for the talented back.
In what remains an uncertain future for Wisconsin without a permanent head coach, the staff knows the challenge it has keeping players reassured.
“Unfortunately we have to recruit our own team everyday right now,” Leonhard said following the loss. “I would never accuse teams of tampering with our players but teams are tampering with our players. It’s unfortunate to see where it’s at right now, but I have to continue to show a clear vision.
"I’ve mentioned it a couple times, the uncertainty is going to cause people to look and see what the best decisions for their future are and we have to be real about that as coaches. That’s why we have these conversations with our team almost daily about where we’re going, what the plan is and how we’re going to get there.
"That’s all we can do and like I said, it’s unfortunate that a kid has to address that with the media when it’s not supposed to be real, but obviously it is.”
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