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Nebraska Football: Ajay Allen return a massive lift for Huskers

By Oliver Vandervoort

Nebraska Cornhuskers running back Ajay Allen (9) runs with the ball (Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports)
Nebraska Cornhuskers running back Ajay Allen (9) runs with the ball (Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports) /
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While the Nebraska football team got some bad news earlier this week with the announced departures of Garrett Nelson to the NFL and Colton Feist retiring from football altogether, Husker fans got a massive lift of their collective spirits when running back Ajay Allen announced he was returning to Lincoln for the 2023 season.

To be sure, the more time passed without Allen announcing his plans, the more it seemed like the Nebraska football team had a real chance to keep a special player. Still, when the running back took to Twitter on Wednesday night to announce he was coming back, the Husker faithful certainly erupted on social media.

Allen was a true freshman in 2022 and started the season as a kind of afterthought on the depth chart. He had just three carries in the Nebraska football team’s season opener against Northwestern.

However he started to show just what he could do the next week when the Huskers took on North Dakota. In that game he carried 11 times for 58 yards and a touchdown. It was the following contest against Georgia Southern that he really showed what he was capable of as he ran for 76 yards and another TD on just nine carries.

https://twitter.com/Ajay3Allen/status/1608252400153788418

However, on September 17, Allen suffered a broken collarbone against Oklahoma that required surgery and ended his season just as he was starting to look like the most electric back in the Nebraska football stable.

Not long after that injury, rumors began swirling around social media and on message boards that Ajay Allen wasn’t happy with the churn and turnover that was going on in the Nebraska football program. There were whispers that he was going to transfer once the season was over.

However, the end of the season arrived and the running back didn’t leave. Now he’s announced he’ll be officially coming back. Ajay Allen’s return, paired with Anthony Grant apparently preparing to run it back, give the Nebraska football a potent backfield for new head coach Matt Rhule.

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