Let's hear it for a local kid making the NFL

[bowener]

Roger Allen III.

I met him when I went to MoWest a few years ago, and to make it more interesting he was a good friend with my girlfriend (who I met in Columbia last year) back in high school, and he is getting married next year to a girl from my small hometown.

FWIW, I believe my girlfriend said they voted him, "#1 gentleman" in high school. A great guy off the field, and a nasty one on it.

THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

In virtually every training camp, at least one undrafted rookie will sign with a team and do enough in the preseason to steal a roster spot. In the Rams’ case, this year’s feel good story comes from right here in the Show Me State.

Allen, a native of Raytown, Mo. and Missouri Western State alumni, came to the Rams as a strong, talented if not raw prospect with plenty of upside. During training camp, Allen showed a lot of that potential but spent most of his time working with the third team. As camp wore on, Allen continued to improve and the week before last week’s preseason finale against Kansas City, Allen was informed that he would be working with the second string.

That vote of confidence buoyed Allen and let him know he could fit in on this level. “That let me know they liked me,” Allen said. “They wanted to see big things out of me. I know they brought me here with big expectations and I plan on living up to them and the fact that I played (so much) against Kansas City just amped it up that much more.”
Like most of his rookie brethren, Allen spent Saturday sweating out the results, watching television and playing video games. His parents were in town and helped him get through it. “They’d help me pack up my stuff if things went wrong,” Allen said, jokingly.

Sure enough the call never came and Allen was finally informed that he had made the team when his agent called him with the good news.
“He called me and said congratulations,” Allen said. “I said ‘Congratulations about what?’ he said he talked to them and you made it. I was like ‘Are you sure? Oh, thank God.’”

Although the stories of Allen, Roach, Young and Ah You all have their own twists and turns to them, there’s no doubting the amount of hard work, blood, sweat and tears each of them has poured in to getting to this point.
Reality says things can change at the drop of a hat in the NFL. But for now, Spagnuolo wants to make sure none of his players - whether they be Pro Bowlers or roster long shots made good – take what they’ve been given lightly.

“They deserve to be here,” Spagnuolo said. “I told the guys this morning…I congratulated everybody first of all, for being on an NFL football team. It is special – not everybody can do that and then I told them that they should feel proud of it and never take it for granted. Coaches, players, should never take this for granted. It can be taken away like that and hopefully the message got through.”

Still wish he could have ended up here, but home state is good enough. Congrats, Rog!

[BWillie]

I bet he was a good friend to your girlfriend.