Analysis: Is it too soon for Antonio Allen to be thinking about football?

I’m all for second chances.

People make mistakes. People see a chance to make a quick buck and often times it gets them in trouble. I get all of that. It happens all the time. It probably happens every day. It happens way too often to high school and college-aged kids, too. Of that much, I’m convinced.

But the news Wednesday that former Indiana University defensive back Antonio Allen has quickly resurfaced after being dismissed from the IU football team in June and will transfer to Indiana State just seems awfully quick.

It was just over two months ago that Allen found himself knee deep in big trouble.

If you remember what happened with Allen, IU’s leading tackler from a year ago, and a player many believe has NFL potential, was dismissed by IU coach Kevin Wilson after Allen was arrested and charged with two counts of dealing methamphetamine and dealing heroin and one count of dealing cocaine.

And this wasn’t small time stuff. Two of the charges against Allen were Level 2 Felonies. In Indiana, those convicted of a Level 2 Felony could potentially be sentenced to 10-30 years in prison.

When Allen was arrested in mid-June in Bloomington police executed a search warrant of his apartment. They found 47 grams of cocaine, 13 grams of heroin, three half-smoked blunts and $920 in cash. They also found a Colt .45 handgun.

In the police report, it was revealed that Allen had been videotaped allegedly selling drugs to an informant.

In the report, the informant said that the first controlled buy consisted of Allen selling a confidential informant between 5 and 10 grams of heroin and approximately 1 gram of crystal methamphetamine. The second buy consisted of Allen selling between 5 and 10 grams of crystal meth to an informant.

Now again, I’m all about second chances. And ultimately I really do hope that Allen gets a second chance here. As a media member you don’t get to really know the athletes you cover beyond a very superficial view. But every interview I had ever had with Allen had been very pleasant. He seemed like a good kid. I know you always hear that but that was clearly my impression.

In fact, when I heard that Allen was in the kind of trouble he was in, I was more than a little surprised.

But right now what I’d like to see Allen doing is focusing on the matter at hand which is the charges that have been levied against him. I completely understand that people are innocent until proven guilty and even though there seems to be a great deal of evidence stacked against the former Indianapolis Ben Davis High School standout Allen will get his day in court.

I think it’s a nice gesture on the part of Indiana State coach Mike Sanford to try and help him get things turned around. And I also think it’s a smart decision on the part of ISU to redshirt Allen this season so that he can focus on getting his life together.

I just wish that we weren’t even talking about football right now with Allen.

Get your life together, let the legal process take its course and let’s see where you are a few months from now. If then there’s still an opportunity to go to college and play football that will be great and those second chances I talked about will definitely have a chance to be realized.

Right now though I’m worried a lot more about Antonio Allen the person than I am, Antonio Allen the football player.

@IndySportsHutch