Polk County Football Week Zero MVP: Xzavier Allen of Lakeland High
2018 RB Xzavier Allen during 2016 spring practices.
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Xzavier Allen’s first time running an opponent over on the football field came as a member of the Lakeland Destroyers little league football team. The Destroyers youth organization is modeled after the Lakeland Dreadnaughts football team, but Allen said he wanted to be a Dreadnaught long before he played his first game of little league.
“I’d say since I first started watching football I wanted to be a Dreadnaught,” he said.
The 17-year-old running back is 6’0” and 220 pounds. A short look at the 2018 graduate’s film shows that most of Allen’s opponents struggle to bring him down and as the game wears on, many don’t want to try.
In his 2016 film Allen can be seen scoring three (almost four) touchdowns in the kickoff classic against Lake Gibson and breaking off multiple runs of 20 yards or more against Jacksonville Ed White in Week One. Allen said that Lakeland’s strength and conditioning program made him even more of a force on the field than as a Destroyer.
“When I got to high school we did way more running and when we started lifting weights that made a big difference. That’s what really made me gain a lot of weight; lifting. I just kept going.”
Allen was the lead blocker for the top rusher in Polk County in 2015 and 15th in rushing yards among Polk rushers.
In the 2015 season Allen had 88 carries. He ran for 442 yards, 15th among Polk County rushers, earning 5.0 yards per carry. He also scored 12 touchdowns as a 16-year-old sophomore. He was the lead blocker for A.J. Davis, who led Polk County rushers with 234 carries and 1,671 yards, but Davis scored only one more touchdown than Allen, who quickly became head coach Bill Castle’s preferred rusher in goal line situations.
Like he often does on the field, Allen plans to use momentum to take him further in his career as a student-athlete.
“My goal is to keep doing what I’m doing, because I’m doing good now. Actually, I’m going to be better at the end of the season. I just really want to pick up a couple offers before the year is over, and start getting ready for college. I haven’t even heard from any colleges yet.“
Allen said that his grades weren’t great when he began high school but he said he has begun to match his effort in the classroom, with his effort on the gridiron.
“Right now my lowest grade is an 83 B,” he said.
Writer – James Bennett, Jr.
Photographer – Hasani “The Cameraman” Harper
Polk County Football #GOWPolk
Week Zero – Lakeland at Lake Gibson
Offensive MVP
Xzavier Allen – Lakeland Dreadnaughts
9 carries, 75 yds, 3 TDs against Lake Gibson Aug. 19
