When we last saw Rylon Dillard-Allen, the University of Washington free safety was doing his best impersonation of a human exclamation mark.
With a practice run at it.
Down to 4:14 left to play at Purdue, the sophomore from Phoenix leaped as high as he could to get one hand on a fourth-down Boilermakers pass, knock it away and force a change of possession.
After the ball traded hands once more, Dillard-Allen broke in front of a Purdue wide receiver to come down with a game-sealing interception with 1:19 remaining in the UW's 38-26 victory in West Lafayette, Indiana.
If it seemed as if the Husky defensive back was all over the field that night, defensive coordinator Ryan Walters confirmed as much.
"I thought it was his best game that we've seen him play, the most consistent," Walters said. "He didn't look like a young guy out there. That was really good to see. Hopefully, that gives him confidence and trusting the details of what we're asking him to do. If he does that, the sky's the limit with his play."
Not only was the guy they call RDA extra good in pass coverage, he tied for the UW lead in tackles with 7 with fellow starting safety Alex McLaughlin.
With Saturday's game at Nebraska (5-2 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) next up, the second-year player from the Arizona desert has come a long way since early in fall camp when he continuously lost his temper, marched out of practice one day in a snit and at that momet didn't look like he was long for the team, let alone the starting lineup.
"My competitive spirit got the best of me," he said flatly in August, not looking for an excuse.
Yet once the season got underway, Dillard-Allen has been a fairly steady and more even-tempered performer while starting all seven games for the Huskies (4-3, 1-3).
He collected first two career interceptions in his last three outings, getting the other one in the 26-21 loss to USC in Los Angeles.
"I told him after the game this was the most vet-like style of game that I'd seen him play," Walters said. "Detailed with his alignments. Detailed with where his eyes were. And in turn, it allows him to make plays and use his God-given talents and his natural affinity for the physicality of the game."
From momentary question mark to ready exclamation mark, he's all about football punctuation now rather than pushing limits with his raw emotion.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/washington as Dillard-Allen Turns Raw Emotion Into Husky Production .
