Growing up in Tulare, California, in the San Joaquin Valley midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Kazmeir Allen didn’t have to go far to find success in the NCAA. Chip Kelly was announced as the new head coach of the UCLA Bruins on a Saturday in November 2017 and made Allen his first committed recruit a mere three days later.
As Kaz explained to me, “Coach Kelly, he got the job and he was at my high school the next day and he was just talking to my head coach and obviously growing up I was an Oregon fan, watching De’Anthony Thomas, LaMichael James, these guys, smaller scat backs and I just figured it would be a perfect role.