Davis Allen is glad to have a clean bill of health again as he prepares for what could very well be his final season at Clemson. Any thoughts beyond next handful of months for the Tigers’ veteran tight end can wait.

Allen is entering his senior season entrenched atop the depth chart at the position after emerging as the Tigers’ primary option at tight end midway through last season. He finished with 28 catches, third-most on the team, while his three touchdown receptions tied for the team lead.

Yet the most prominent role of his career came with a price.

Allen sustained a shoulder injury late in the season that required surgery in January. Allen missed the spring recovering, though he said he likely could’ve participated if he really wanted to. But with an all-important season looming for not only the Tigers but also himself, Allen didn’t want to risk it.

“Knowing me, I’m going to go (play) unless someone tells me I can’t go,” Allen said. “But I kind of knew I had this last season, so it was perfect timing at the end of the season just to go ahead and get it out of the way and get ready to go for this season.”

Allen said outside of the soreness that usually accompanies the grind of preseason camp, he’s back at full strength with less than two weeks until Clemson’s Labor Day opener against Georgia Tech.

“I feel great,” he said. “I’m itching and ready to go.”

Allen, who signed with Clemson in 2019, was in his second year with the program when the coronavirus outbreak struck in 2020. With the NCAA granting fall-sport athletes an extra year of eligibility in response to the pandemic, Allen could return to the team for the 2023 season if he chooses.

But Allen, whose father (Georgia) and brother (Air Force) also played college football, has seen his draft stock steadily climb after putting up the best numbers of his college career a season ago. At 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, he also has ideal size at the position to do a little bit of everything at the next level, versatility that Allen said he’s put even more focus on heading into this season.

“Be effective in the run game and be effective in the pass game,” he said. “In the run game, you’ve really got to be good with pad level, and your hands have to be good. Leverage has to be good. Obviously with route running, your footwork has got to be good, your hands and understand the defense.”

Some draft services have Allen among the top 25 tight-end prospects for next year’s NFL Draft if not higher. Asked if he pays attention to those type of rankings and prognostications this time of year, Allen said he knows better.

“Don’t mean a thing,” Allen said. “My dad raised me and my brother not to pay attention to those things, and it’s easy to get caught up in that for sure. But at the end of the day, I can control only what I can control. I think the good Lord will take good care of me whether my path is the league or it’s not. I’m at peace with whichever one happens.”

But Allen acknowledged there isn’t much he isn’t working on to round out his game in order to give himself the best chance for success now and later.

“Every year kind of for me, it’s I know I can get better at every little aspect (of the position),” Allen said. “I know I’m not the fastest tight end. I know I’m not the strongest tight end. And so I think that drives me to really improve in every aspect of my game. I might have good pad level, but I can always be better at my pad level. I might have good hands, but I can always get better with my hands. Footwork, leverage and all of that. I feel like I can always improve.”

Dear Old Clemson has added to the store posters signed by all 20 members of Clemson’s 2022 football class.

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