Jaguars RB LeQuint Allen Jr., will stand up for teammates, and for himself
· Yahoo Sports
There is no better compliment that can be paid to someone from New Jersey than to call him "a stand-up guy."
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LeQuint Allen Jr., the Jacksonville Jaguars' second-year running back from Millville, N.J., smack in the middle of the Southern part of the state, is every bit the stand-up guy.
He stands up for his teammates. Harken back to the a game at Tennessee last year when former Jag Arden Key hit quarterback Trevor Lawrence late. Allen was in the middle of the fracas on the Titans sideline, bent on proving to a Tennessee team going through the motions in a 3-14 season that it wasn't open season on his quarterback.
It was Lawrence who pulled Allen away from getting into more serious scrapes. Allen says later that it was only his leader that could have pulled him away, the man for whom he ferociously pass blocks.
"Once I heard his voice, I chilled out," he said on Aug. 6 after the Jaguars practiced at the Miller Electric Center. "I take [pass blocking] to heart. That's my job. I take it personal. No one's going to touch Trevor."
Later, the press box joke was that Lawrence wasn't protecting Allen ― he was protecting the Titans players from Allen.
LeQuint Allen stood for a teammate, then himself
It's hardly the first time Allen stood up for a teammate and once it almost cost him his football career.
Allen came to the defense of Syracuse teammate Duce Chestnut during an on-campus incident on Dec. 11, 2022, in which Chestnut claimed he was jumped by a group of people. According to his statement to police, Allen punched a man only after he took two blows to the head.
Allen was charged with third-degree assault, but his claim of self-defense resonated with prosecutors and the charges were dismissed under a New Jersey procedure called "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal."
Allen had not been in trouble before or since, but Syracuse still suspended the 2021 New Jersey high school player of the year for the 2023 season.
That's when Allen, who lost his father to gun violence in February of 2023, stood up for himself.
He sued Syracuse to overturn the suspension and have his school record expunged of the incident. It took only 14 days for Allen and the school to reach an agreement that allowed him to return to the team.
Good lawyers for Allen? Shaky grounds by Syracuse?
Or maybe it's because they knew LeQuint Allen Jr., well enough to know he wasn't backing down.
Allen celevrated with a 1,000-yard rushing season, scoring nine touchdowns and make second-team All-ACC.
Allen followed that in 2024 by leading the ACC with 17 touchdowns and leading the nation in receptions by a running back with 61, for 476 yards. He entered the draft after that junior season and the Jaguars snapped him up in the seventh round.
If there was ever a newcomer to the team who embodied General Manager James Gladstone's favorite phrase, "intangibly rich," it's Allen.
Allen had modest offensive stats as a rookie, with 94 rushing yards and 10 receptions for 54 yards. But he averaged 25.7 yards on 24 kickoff returns and forced one fumble and recovered two on special teams, then forced a special-teams fumble in the playoff game against Buffalo.
Along the way, he earned the respect of everyone in the building.
"Every time he's gotten an opportunity with the ball he's done something," Lawrence said late in the 2025 season.
Allen can make more of an impact in 2026
With Travis Etienne leaving for New Orleans, Allen has a chance to push his way into the running back rotation that now starts with fellow second-year player Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez. But Allen's value goes beyond carrying or catching a football. His pass blocking skills are beyond his years; he has a willingness to play anywhere on special teams and he has an edge, an intangible toughness, yet clearly felt in the building and on the field.
Allen's intensity sometimes boils over. The most violent fight in the 2025 training camp was a fists-of-fury moment he had with linebacker Branson Combs. Players and coaches still talk about a pass protection rep in training camp last year between Allen and linebacker Ventrell Miller that showed their intensity.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen said it's a simple matter of how much Allen loves football, and his teammates.
"LeQuint has shown so much in terms of the toughness, the physicality, the care factor," Coen said in April.
Coen has called Allen's devotion to his craft "infectious."
Allen" 'Mess with family, mess with me'
Allen said his passion for football is only surpassed by his love for teammates and his willingness to have their back, any place, any time.
"My teammates … that's equivalent to family," he said. "We're out here every day, working hard; we eat together, breakfast, lunch, dinner, we're out here doing everything together.
"That's family, in my mind," he said. "Once you mess with family, you mess with me."
Allen said it's not blind devotion. He takes the time to get to know his teammates, talk to them about almost anything, read their moods and be there for them, not just as a bodyguard but as a friend.
"It's knowing your teammates inside and out," he said when asked the definition of a good teammate. "You know when someone's having a good or a bad day, just being there for them, not just for football but as a person. I think that's being a good teammate."
Is that the classic definition of being a stand-up guy from Jersey?
You decide because in another cliché of the streets, Allen prefers to walk the walk.
"That's for other people to say," Allen said about his personal reputation. "I always stay true to myself. I know who I am. I feel like I'm a stand-up guy but you just can't go around ... saying things. Other people [have] got to see it."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars RB LeQuint Allen Jr., will stand up for teammates, and for himself