During the waning moments of the final day of the NFL Draft on Saturday, Texas Tech linebacker Dakota Allen was scooped up by the Los Angeles Rams.
Allen was taken in the 7th round with the 251st overall selection. While this would otherwise seem unremarkable, the pick gave Allen the distinction of being the first regularly featured player from Netflix's Last Chance Uto ever be taken in the NFL Draft:
As for Allen's backstory, he had been a three-star recruit out of high school when he originally arrived on campus at Texas Tech back in 2014. But following a good redshirt freshman season, in which he had 87 tackles, he was arrested for home burglary and stealing guns. Though those charges were ultimately dismissed, it still led to him being temporarily kicked off of the Red Raiders' team.
Following that brush with the legal system, Allen enrolled at East Mississippi Community College, which was featured during the Netflix program's first two seasons, for the 2016 campaign. After one year in Mississippi he reenrolled at Texas Tech, and went on to post big numbers, including 162 tackles, 11.5 of which were for loss, two sacks and two picks in his final two seasons there. He was also named to the All Big-12 Team. In addition to being the first player from Last Chance U drafted, he was also the only Red Raider who was taken this year.
"Basically, everything you saw was what happened," Allen told the Dallas Morning News of the show this past July. "I lived it. That’s why I only watched it one time, so it was a repeat. I wouldn’t take anything away because I learned a lot from that experience, if that makes sense.
“I feel like now I have something to look forward to like my faith. I also learned whatever you put your mind to you got to keep pushing through it, you have to keep grinding towards it, and eventually you’ll get it.”
Worth noting is the fact that players from the show have made it to football's top league before, as other players on the show (namely Quarterback John Franklin III and Defensive back CJ Reavis) signed undrafted free agent contracts with NFL clubs.
Anyway, being a seventh-rounder doesn't exactly give you a lot of job security, but it would at least seem that Allen made the most of his...last chance. Don't pardon the pun or ever even think about it again. Also if you want to read more about Allen, here's a pretty interesting longform article from NFL.com.
