Los Angeles, Calif. – A monumental stage will be set for Oregon football this Thursday. It’s the Rose Bowl, just for starters. It is the first playoff game at the FBS level. It also includes the chance to dethrone the reigning National Champions, a team that hasn’t lost in 29 games.
Yet, for everything that is currently in front of them, redshirt freshman wide receiver Devon Allen already has a couple experiences to match.
Just in the year 2014, Allen has won an NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the 110-meter hurdles, as well as a U.S. National Championship in the same event. His time in both of those races, 13.16, is the second-fastest ever recorded by a collegiate athlete and he’s also beaten a former world champion while doing so.
It’s rational to assume then that the setting in Pasedena, California will take a backseat to the other places he’s been.
However for Allen, who came to Oregon as the 16th rated wide receiver prospect in 2013 according to Scout.com, there’s no question that this opportunity ranks above all the previous ones.
“It’s probably the biggest,” Allen said. “The national championship for track and the USA championship for track was  a big deal.
“But football is king. There’s always a lot more people watching, a lot more people care about what’s going on the football field.”
Is football king for Allen too? That answer is even easier.
“Definitely,” he says.
It is hard not to dismiss the type of revelation the freshman dual-sport athlete has become this year.  When the calendar turned the page no one knew his name. But as he began winning race after race during the track and field season, a surge of attention followed.
His upset win in the national championships at Historic Hayward Field then showed what type of athlete Oregon’s football program had in its midst.
“We didn’t know how fast he was,” junior wide receiver Byron Marshall said. “It was his first year at the collegiate level so it was definitely eye-popping.”
So eye-popping that he became the most hyped receiver, despite not having a single catch to his name, as the season drew close.
13 games later, Allen leads the team in touchdown receptions with seven, while amounting 41 catches for 684 yards. His transition from the track to the gridiron has been undeniably smooth and he, along with a contingent of underclassmen wideouts, has quelled the fears that offensive coordinator Scott Frost had back in August.
“We were a little bit worried at wide receiver and I tell you it’s been a strength of our football team this year,” Frost said. “Some of the young guys like Devon really started to shine.”
Watch Allen on a football field and it is evident what track-type speed is. By the end of September, plays that showcased his innate acceleration were coming at a premium. One example came in the Ducks’ first Pac-12 contest against Washington State.  Trailing 7-0, the Oregon offense needed just one play to tie the score after Marcus Mariota found a streaking Allen across the center of the field for an 80-yard touchdown.
“Just watch him play,” Marshall said, referring to the speed he brings over from track. “If he gets open he’ll defintely just separate and accelerate against anyone. It doesn’t matter who you are, he’s a gold medalist which is not common.”
Sometimes bearing the negative tag as a “track guy” Allen feels he’s automatically labeled as soft. It is a notion that he nor Oregon can slip despite their dominance on the football field this year. But it doesn’t bother him. He just wants to be successful.
“We’re going to go out there and score a lot of points, and maybe we can be soft, but as long we score more points, we’ll get the win,” Allen said.
And if Oregon does, it’ll without a doubt be his greatest achievement to date.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JustinFWise