MSU’s top 50 football players: No. 50 Denicos Allen

his is the first in a 50-day summer series counting down the top players in Michigan State football history, as I see them. As with last year’s MSU basketball top 50, the criteria is performance and impact at MSU only, professional career irrelevant. Have your own opinion? Leave a comment or tweet at me @Graham_Couch.

No. 50 - Denicos Allen

Linebacker, 2010-13, Hamilton, Ohio

The skinny: No player in modern MSU football history has made a more important play than Allen’s fourth-down tackle on Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller (pictured here) late in the 2013 Big Ten championship game. Without that firm takedown of one of the sport’s great athletes on fourth-and-2, it’s likely MSU is viewed differently in the Big Ten and throughout college football, and perhaps then in recruiting circles, too. A once-beaten-down Spartan fan base would certainly be less satisfied. - Read more at LSJ.com