MADISON – True freshman linebacker Christian Alliegro’s first taste of action on defense came at one of the most critical points in Wisconsin’s season.
The Badgers had just scored the go-ahead touchdown on the road in Champaign. Illinois had 27 seconds to attempt to drive 75 yards for a potential game-winning touchdown. Alliegro was on the kickoff team, and began to trot off the field.
“I’m running back to the sideline and the coaches go ‘Alliegro, Alliegro! You’re on the field! Spy the quarterback!’”
Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer had run wild all day, torching the Badgers with his legs time and time again. Wisconsin had seen enough, and elected to deploy its speedy true freshman as a quarterback spy. Alliegro barely had time to react.
“I didn’t have time to really get nervous,” he said. “They had me spying the quarterback and I was able to get to the ball and make a play.”
Alliegro would swat a pass at the line of scrimmage on the drive as Wisconsin held on to complete the comeback.
It wasn’t the first collegiate action the linebacker saw. He’d been running with the kickoff team and also played on the punt block team early in the season against Buffalo and Washington State. Still, his first defensive action came in an incredibly clutch situation. The freshman stared crunch time in the face and didn’t blink.
Alliegro’s playing time on defense may have seemingly come out of nowhere, but the linebacker had been working towards this moment since he stepped foot in Madison. Alliegro wasn’t an early enrollee — he showed up in the summer. That didn’t stop him from getting right down to business.
“When I came in in the summer, I didn’t really have a plan. Just work as hard as you can day in day out, learn the playbook, do everything you can, stay after practice,” he said. That’s kinda been my mindset, just get better every single day, and the rest will (work) out.”
Nevertheless, it takes a lot of confidence to throw a true freshman onto the field with the game on the line in a hostile environment. Alliegro maintains that his work ethic is what gave his coaches the confidence to put him in such a high-leverage spot.
“I think they’ve seen my athletic abilities as the season went on. Going to practice, working hard, staying after practice. Just kinda giving them that trust to put me on the field,” he said.
Alliegro has impressed his teammates as well.
“He’s a freaky athlete. You see him in the weight room. Heavy squatter, strong kid, can bench, fast. Puts his head down and works, gained the respect of everybody with his work ethic,” outside linebacker Jeff Pietrowski said.
“I think he’s developing really nicely. He just keeps getting better every week.”
The Illinois game was his first taste of defensive action, and make no mistake — his assignment to spy the quarterback was imperative, and he came up big. Nonetheless, his first big splash play came two weeks ago against Northwestern when he flew into the backfield for a sack.
Alliegro’s speed is one of the best things the linebacker has going for him at the moment. It’s what got him on the field to spy Altmyer in Champaign. It’s what helped him easily penetrate Northwestern’s offensive front for a sack. It’s what has him being used, albeit sparingly, as a situational third down piece for Mike Tressel’s defense.
That speed can be traced back through Alliegro’s long, winding path to Madison. Alliegro grew up in Darien, Connecticut in the heart of lacrosse country.
“Everybody (from Darien) is known for going D-I for lacrosse,” he said. “As much as I love lacrosse, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do my own thing.”
Alliegro played both sports growing up. Initially, he favored lacrosse, running into obstacles with football.
“My freshman year of high school, I really didn’t play. I didn’t get that many snaps, I almost thought of quitting football after my freshman year. Junior year, Covid happened, no football season. I was like, alright, I’m gonna focus on lacrosse,” he said.
That turned out to be a pretty fruitful decision for Alliegro. He racked up lacrosse scholarship offers, initially committing to Air Force before committing to Navy. But something didn’t sit right with Alliegro. His senior year of high school, he decided that football was his passion.
“I don’t know, something just clicked in my mind,” he said. “I had to play football.”
It was easier said than done, however. Connecticut isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for football recruiting. Alliegro was also 17 years old for his senior year of high school. If he wanted to play football at the next level, he needed to develop more.
Figuratively, he was committed to playing football in college. But literally, he was still committed to Navy for lacrosse. So, he decommitted from the Midshipmen and took a post-grad year at Avon Old Farms boarding school. It was a private school with a more talented football program than anything you could find in Connecticut’s public schools. He transitioned from safety to linebacker, both inside and outside. That’s where his recruitment took off.
“I think that was the best thing that happened in my life, honestly,” he said. “Taking that extra year, boarding school, all boys school, being away from home for a whole year. It really allowed me to transition into a college atmosphere really well. Not getting homesick, just the little things.”
At Avon Old Farms, Alliegro racked up big-time offers from programs such as Maryland, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Louisville and Minnesota. Ultimately, he found the perfect fit with Wisconsin.
Alliegro’s late-season emergence has the young linebacker poised for a shot at legitimate playing time next year. Head coach Luke Fickell all but confirmed that he’ll continue to see increased snaps.
“He’s a guy that’s gonna continue to get more and more,” Fickell said. “People always talk about towards the end of the year, youth movement. There’s not a ton of maybe youth right now that you’d say is moving, but Christian is probably one of those guys that for sure is gonna see a lot more.”
To play at the level Alliegro is playing at as a freshman, one needs a certain level-headedness about them. By all accounts, the linebacker has been that way going back to his high school days. Talking to the freshman, he exudes a confidence not based in arrogance, but in hard work and mental serenity.
“Once you get on the field, realizing that it’s just football,” he remarked. “Relaxing your mind.”
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