Arkansas Football: Quarterback Austin Allen out against Alabama

Arkansas quarterback is out with an undisclosed injury for the road game against Alabama. Cole Kelley will take Allen’s place under center.

News broke early Saturday that Austin Allen was unable to start for Arkansas in the road trip to face Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He was pulled from the game against South Carolina with an injury to his throwing shoulder, and the Razorbacks finally came clean that he would not be in uniform at Bryant-Denny Stadium this weekend.

Allen has had a rough season so far, completing less than 57 percent of his passes and throwing for just over seven yards per attempt. He already has four interceptions on the year. And now Allen will get no chance to take down the top-ranked team in the country and redeem what has been a disappointing campaign.

There has been rumbling for the past several weeks for Allen to hit the bench. Fans have clamored to see redshirt freshman Cole Kelley in action. Now they get the chance to see Kelley for the first time on a stage that could make or break his entire college career.

Kelley came into the game against the Gamecocks last week and went 8-of-13 for 140 yards. He threw a touchdown and an interception, and ran for another 23 yards on two scrambles. He offers as good a chance as Allen brought to the table to take down Nick Saban’s Tide on their home turf.

If Kelley goes down, redshirt sophomore Ty Storey would likely be the next man up. Either way you cut it, Alabama is likely going to roll to a big victory, as Allen didn’t play defense and the Crimson Tide is going to lock down on whoever was playing quarterback in the first place.

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Beware what you wish for, in the end. Fans of the Razorbacks finally get something they want, though they probably would have preferred Bielema to bench Allen before getting injured.