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Fourth BC player to receive the honor
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College senior defensive end Zach Allen (New Canaan, Conn.) has been selected the Walter Camp 2018 Connecticut Player of the Year.
The award is presented to the top college football player who is a resident and/or played scholastically in the state of Connecticut. The award is voted on by the Walter Camp Football Foundation membership.
Allen is the fourth player from Boston College to receive this honor, joining former Eagle standouts Tyler Murphy (QB, Wethersfield), Kevin Pierre-Louis (LB, Norwalk) and Bill Romanowski (LB, Vernon).
A Second Team All-American according to Pro Football Focus, Allen led the Eagles with 15.0 tackles for loss and ranked second with 6.5 quarterback sacks. He totaled 61 tackles (26 solo), 11 quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries and one interception. He earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors following a seven-tackle (three for losses) and one quarterback sack performance in a win over Louisville on Oct. 13.
An All-ACC second-team selection, Allen ranks among the top 10 in school history in career quarterback sacks and tackles for loss. He was recently recognized with the Scanlan Award, BC’s highest football honor given to the senior who best embodies the ideals of Tom Scanlan, BC class of 1920.
A member of the New England Football Writers All-New England Team, Allen has accepted an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. Boston College (7-5) will face Boise State in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 26, at the historic Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.
A native of New Canaan, Allen played scholastically for head coach Lou Marinelli at New Canaan High School. A three-year varsity starter, Allen led the Rams to two Class L state championships and was named Connecticut’s Gatorade Player of the Year following his senior season (2014) as well as being named to the Walter Camp All-Connecticut Team.
Allen is also the third former Walter Camp All-Connecticut Team scholastic honoree to go on to earn Connecticut Player of the Year collegiate honors, joining former St. Joseph HS and Temple University linebacker (and current Pittsburgh Steeler) Tyler Matakevich, and former West Haven HS and Syracuse University wide receiver Ervin Philips.
Allen, along with the members of the 2018 Walter Camp All-America team including BC teammates Hamp Cheevers and Michael Walker along with Player of the Year Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama), along with other major award winners (Man of the Year Mike Golic; Distinguished American-Archie Manning; Perseverance Award-Jake Olson, USC), will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven, on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at the Yale University’s Lanman Center.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team. Visit www.waltercamp.org for more information.
Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year
2018 – Zach Allen, DE, Boston College
2017 – Ervin Philips, WR, Syracuse
2016 – Noel Thomas, WR, Connecticut
2015 – Tyler Matakevich, LB, Temple
2014 – Tyler Murphy, QB, Boston College
2013 – Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB, Boston College
2012 – Bjoern Werner, DE, Florida State
2011 – Silas Redd, RB, Penn State
2010 – John Moffitt, OL, Wisconsin
2009 – Aaron Hernandez, TE, Florida
2008 – Kory Sheets, RB, Purdue
2007 – Mike McLeod, RB, Yale
2006 – Kory Sheets, RB, Purdue
2005 – John Sullivan, C, Notre Dame
2004 – Anttaj Hawthorne, DT, Wisconsin; Dan Orlovsky, QB, Connecticut
2003 – Dan Orlovsky, QB, Connecticut
2002 – Niko Koutouvides, LB, Purdue
2001 – Dwight Freeney, DE, Syracuse
2000 – Peter Mazza, LB, Yale
1999 – Bobby Myers, DB, Wisconsin
1998 – Carl Bond, RB, Connecticut
1997 – Kyle McIntosh, RB, Syracuse
1996 – Tarek Salah, LB, Wisconsin
1995 – Tarek Salah, LB, Wisconsin
1994 – Jason Miska, LB, Auburn
1993 – Chris Zingo, LB, Cornell
1992 – Curtis Eller, LB, Villanova
1991 – Corey Vincent, DL, Holy Cross
1990 – Rob Thomson, DB, Syracuse
1989 – Terry Wooden, LB, Syracuse
1988 – Glenn Antrum, WR, Connecticut
1987 – Bill Romanowski, LB, Boston College
1986 – Richard Comizio, RB, Pennsylvania
1985 – Tom Patton, DE, Holy Cross
1984 – No recipient
1983 – Steve Young, QB, Brigham Young
1982 – Mike Marshall, DB, Southern Conn.
1981 – Richard Diana, RB, Yale
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