Colts Scouts Take: Georgia Linebacker CJ Allen
- Allen excelled as a starter at Georgia, handling complex defensive responsibilities as a young player.
- Colts scout sees Allen's rare instincts and reactiveness as key attributes for the NFL level.
- Allen is expected to take on a leadership role, potentially handling defensive communication for the Colts.
Colts Scouts Take: Georgia Linebacker CJ Allen
INDIANAPOLIS – As the southeast area scout for the Colts, Anthony Coughlan is scouting hundreds and hundreds of prospects in the most fertile ground for finding professional football players.
Over the course of the 2025 football season, Coughlan came back to the middle of the Georgia defense to find the top of the preparation chart.
“He’s the best practice player I viewed this fall,” Coughlan says. “Just the detail and intensity and focus he had really stood out to me.”
Just seeing how Georgie used Allen, especially early in his collegiate career, it’s clear that he’s wired with a desired NFL makeup.
Georgia put Allen into the starting lineup during his freshman year, and then gave him the defensive signal call duties for each of the next two seasons.
It was quite the statement from head coach Kirby Smart and the very successful Georgia football program.
“(Georgia’s) a tough place to play and practice, and he graduated from that program,” Coughlan adds about Allen. “It’s a hard thing to do, coming there as a freshman among all those top players in the country and playing early. I just think that speaks to his preparation out of high school and his determination and his mental makeup and maturity.
“He’s highly instinctive. I think he has rare instincts for a college football player. His reactiveness, quickness, it allows him to play faster, and he’s already fast.”
In his first NFL spring, Allen looks to be the lead guy for those defensive communication responsibilities.
And that’s in a sophisticated Lou Anarumo scheme. Anarumo, who has been an NFL defensive coordinator since 2019, has never had a rookie handle that role, but Allen looks to be heading in that direction.
For Coughlan, so much of this is rooted in what he witnessed when visiting Athens last fall.
The SEC set a record this past April with 87 draft picks (19 more than the Big Ten).
Despite all this talent, it was the middle linebacker for Georgia that Coughlan put in the highest regard.
“He’s got rare instincts for college,” Coughlan lauds. “So, the reactive quickness kind of allows him to play faster, and he’s already fast. I just see a rare feel. And for a two-and-a-half-year starter in a complex system like at Georgia, there’s a lot on his plate mentally, so definitely I could see green dot potential for us, and he’s handled that the last two years at Georgia”
