Trying to Pass the Los Altos QB Test : Prep football: Mike Allen is the latest in a line of successful quarterbacks at Los Altos, but where he will rank is yet to be determined.

In the annals of CIF Southern Section football history, the names of Los Altos High quarterbacks dot the list of passing records like a shrine to the school’s tradition-rich past.

Over the past 20 years, quarterbacks such as Mike Smith, Dennis Sproul, Rob Hertel and Blake Smith have played an integral role in developing the Hacienda Heights school into one of the most successful programs in the Southern Section.

The Conquerors have another quarterback who is generating a lot of attention this season.

Longtime Los Altos Coach Dwayne DeSpain said senior Mike Allen might not rank with the Smiths or the Hertels yet, but he is heading in the right direction.

“He’s going to be a good one,” DeSpain said. “He’s going to be one of the best, but we’ll really have to wait until after the season to really evaluate him.”

Allen, 17, who is starting his third season as Los Altos quarterback, already has some impressive numbers behind him. In his first two seasons with the Conquerors, he completed 226 of 413 passes for 2,822 yards and 29 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions.

After two games as a senior, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Allen leads the San Gabriel Valley in passing yardage, having completed 27 of 48 passes for 369 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.

Even more impressive is the fact that the Conquerors have produced a 23-4 record over the past three seasons with Allen at quarterback, including a 2-0 start this season.

Success has followed Allen since his first season on the varsity as a sophomore, when the Conquerors won the Southern Section Division IV championship.

Allen admits he is a little surprised at his success considering his limited background in football and the injury problems that beset him before he joined the Los Altos varsity.

As a youth, Allen said he was more interested in basketball than football.

“We’d throw the football around a little at home but mostly we played basketball,” he said. “It seemed like that’s what we played at home most of the time. When I was younger, I’d always be in the back yard playing with my dad or brother.”

In fact, Allen never played organized football until his first year in high school on the freshman team. That season was cut short by an injury.

“I never played Junior All-American ball,” Allen said. “I played a little sandlot ball on the street, but this is where I started playing football. Then in my freshman year in high school I broke my knee in my first league game and didn’t play the rest of the season.”

For Allen, it was the second time in two years that he had suffered a serious leg injury. He also broke a leg when he was in the eighth grade.

But after regaining full strength by the end of his freshman year, Allen quickly learned DeSpain’s intricate passing offense. By the end of preseason practice as a sophomore, Allen had become the team’s starting quarterback--one of the youngest ever to accomplish the feat at Los Altos.

“There’s a lot of pressure coming from a school like Los Altos because we have such a good tradition,” Allen said. “But I guess I caught on pretty quick.

“You start to learn the system when you’re a freshman and then just add a couple of things each year. So you know it pretty well by the time you’re a senior.”

With three years of experience to draw from, Allen said he feels confident this season.

“Just knowing more about what to expect out there is a big difference,” he said. “I’ve also gotten more accurate with my throwing and that’s given me confidence.”

DeSpain said Allen’s strength and leadership ability are two areas where he has improved from last season.

“He worked with weights a lot in the off-season and he’s just gotten very strong,” DeSpain said. “His poise and his ability to read (defenses) are very good and just his overall leadership has been outstanding.”

Allen also said he has benefited from a better mental approach to the game.

“I probably improved the most over the summer because that’s when I really started to understand the mental aspects of the game,” he said. “I think as a sophomore I didn’t really understand the proper mental approach to the game and now I do. If I can stay sharp mentally, I think I can have a good year.”

Allen said he also worked on his footwork during the summer and that has helped improve his time in the 40-yard dash to about 4.7 seconds.

“My footwork’s come a long way,” he said. “It’s still not where I want it to be but it has come a long way. I think basketball really helped a lot with that. I played a lot of summer basketball and you have to always be quick on your feet for that. I think that’s really helped my foot speed for football.”

Allen has already caught the attention of college scouts. One national scouting service, the Pennsylvania-based G&W; Recruiting Report, said he “may have (the) strongest arm in California. (He) throws the ball 60 yards with ease.”

Grades will certainly not be a problem for Allen. He has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 and it is 3.7 including honors points.

“My grades are important, especially to my parents,” Allen said. “I’d say they’ve always pushed the academics. When it comes to that, they’ve always been hard on me.”

Allen is also a standout setter in volleyball and was a center in basketball.

Although he likes basketball, he doesn’t think he has a future there.

“I still enjoy it a lot but I don’t know many people in (NCAA) Division I who are looking for a 6-4 post man,” he said.

Allen said he has yet to decide between his other two sports.

“I really have to wait and decide after this year,” he said. “I really like volleyball and I like football, too.”

If he decides to play football, there is a good chance that he will wind up at either Brigham Young University or Arizona State. His father, John, played wide receiver at Arizona State in the 1950s and his older brother, Marvin, played linebacker for BYU teams in the early 1980s that included quarterbacks such as Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Robbie Bosco.

Allen, who is a Mormon, admits that BYU is his top choice.

“My whole family went to BYU,” he said. “My brother and (five) sisters went there and I’ve gone up to (football) camps up there. I also have a lot of friends there and I have a sister who lives about five minutes from the campus.”

But Allen doesn’t want to get ahead of himself or think too much about passing records or college plans.

“I haven’t really set any goals in terms of numbers,” he said. “But I know that as long as we do our best and I do as well as I can, the rest will follow.”

Valley’s Top 10 Football Teams

Selected by Times Sportswriters

Rank, School, League Record 1. Muir (Pacific) 1-1-0 2. Bishop Amat (Angelus) 1-1-0 3. Nogales (Sierra) 2-0-0 4. Los Altos (Sierra) 2-0-0 5. Wilson (Sierra) 2-0-0 6. Glendora (Baseline) 2-0-0 7. Temple City (Rio Hondo) 2-0-0 8. Claremont (Baseline) 1-1-0 9. Covina (Valle Vista) 2-0-0 10. Rosemead (Miss. Valley) 2-0-0

Others: Arroyo (0-2-0), Damien (0-2-0), Gladstone (2-0-0), Rowland (1-1-0), San Dimas (2-0-0), San Marino (1-0-0), South Hills (1-1-0).