Allen picks up offer, prepares to trim list

Yes, it's Alabama. Yes, it's the most celebrated program in college football history. Yes, it's a modern-day dynasty. But four-star quarterback Kyle Allen is playing it cool. He's not shouting his Tide offer from the rooftops or putting it in a class of its own.

Instead, Allen, a Rivals250 member, is taking the been-there-done-that approach. After all, he does hold 17 other scholarship offers. When he speaks about his Monday conversation with Tide head coach Nick Saban, he does so with a business-like tone. If Allen was overwhelmed, nervous or star struck in any way, he plays it off tremendously.

"Yeah, pretty cool," Allen said when asked about the offer.

Don't confuse his relaxation for indifference. Allen says he plans to visit Alabama at an undetermined date. And the things that pops to his mind when he think of the Crimson Tide is the same thing you hear from most of the program's targets. He just doesn't seem as excited about it as some others.

"I think about the same thing everyone thinks of, national championships, obviously," Allen said. "I've been talking to them for a decent amount of time. I think I started to talking to Coach Nussmeier in January.

"I think I'm going to try to check it out on a visit."

Somehow, the Alabama offer may not have been the most important Allen-related news of the day. On Monday night, the sought-after quarterback said he intends to trim his list as early as the coming weekend, when his Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain team wraps up spring practice.

Allen doesn't give a date or a specific number of teams he expects to make his final list, but the mental wheels are certainly turning. He plans to visit Notre Dame in mid june, and could arrive on the Irish campus with a much shorter list of options.

"I don't have a day in mind, but I expect to be done before my senior season. I'll narrow it when spring ball is over. I'll cut some teams and stop wasting their time so they can move on with their recruiting."

As a junior at Desert Mountain, Allen passed for 3,119 yards and 36 touchdowns. His Wolves team finished the year with a 9-3 overall record.