Ryan Allen (American football)

Ryan Allen (born February 28, 1990) is an American football punter for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Allen won the 2011 and 2012 Ray Guy Awards and was a consensus All-American in 2012.

High school
Allen attended West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon, where he played on the football team for two years as a punter/kicker. In 2007, he was named to the all-state first team.

College
In 2008, Allen was a redshirt freshman at Oregon State. He did not play in 2009. He then went to Louisiana Tech, and in 2010, he played in 12 games, averaging 40.8 yards on 60 punts. He had 21 punts go inside the 20-yard line. Four of his punts went over 50 yards, including a season-long punt of 66 yards.

In 2011, Allen punted 83 times and set a school record with a 46.3 yard average per punt. He ranked first in the nation with 39 punts inside the 20 yard line, and he had a season-long punt of 72 yards against Mississippi State. In the Poinsettia Bowl, he averaged 43.2 yards on five punts. Allen was named to the All-WAC first team and won the Ray Guy Award as the best college football punter.

Allen averaged 48.0 yards on 45 punts as a senior in 2012. He had 21 punts that were longer than 50 yards and 20 punts that were downed inside the 20 yard line. Allen had a career-long 85-yard punt against New Mexico State. He led the NCAA in punting yards per punt, was a unanimous All-American, and won the Ray Guy Award for the second time, the first punter to ever win back-to-back Ray Guy Awards.

New England Patriots
Allen was not selected in the 2013 NFL Draft. He signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent on April 27, 2013. Following the final game of the preseason it was announced that Allen beat out veteran Zoltan Mesko to become the Patriots' punter to begin the 2013 regular season.

Personal
Allen was born in Salem, Oregon, on February 28, 1990. His parents are Mike and Sherry Allen, and he has one sister, Jessica. He is a business major. Allen is six feet, two inches tall, and weighs 215 pounds.