Drake Allen’s path to Aggie Stardom

Utah State Men’s Basketball standout graduate point guard Drake Allen has quickly become one of the team’s most essential players since joining the Aggies in 2024. Despite Allen’s current success, his path to this moment was anything but straightforward. It wound through overlooked high school seasons, junior colleges and multiple transfers — beginning all the way back on a driveway hoop when he was four. 

“I’ve always just enjoyed the competition side of it and being active as a kid,” Allen said. “I’d go to school, I’d come home and automatically would just go outside of my front yard and just start playing. It’s always just been an outlet for me.”  

Allen’s love for the sport traveled with him from California to Utah, where he would try out to play basketball for Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs during his sophomore year. Allen failed to make the team, a fortuitous failure he said would go on to shape the rest of his career.  

“At that point, I had to decide if basketball is something that I still really wanted to do,” Allen said. “I decided to stick with it, keep working at it no matter what happened, trying not to let people tell me what I could and couldn’t do. I just left it up to me and my work.” 

Drake Allen dribbled the ball down the court while playing SDSU on Feb. 22.

Allen went on to do just that, earning himself a spot on the JV team his junior year and the varsity team his senior year.  

“A lot of people at this level played varsity earlier in their high school year and their sophomore [or] freshman year, so for me to get cut and then make it that way has just been a little bit different,” Allen said. “It has taught me that people are going to say whatever people are going to say, like ‘You’re not good enough.’ People can say whatever they want, but if you just keep working, then you can always eventually achieve your goals.” 

Despite his growth in the game throughout high school and his passion to continue playing, Allen left Westlake without any Division I offers.  

“It’s hard when you work so hard at something and you feel like everything’s going great, and then maybe other people don’t see it the same way — or maybe you’re not in the best situation or you don’t have the connections,” Allen said. “That was another point when I had to just decide: Am I going to hang the shoes up and be done or am I going to keep fighting for the dream that I had to play at Division I level?” 

Allen’s progress up the professional basketball ladder seemed unlikely when he left for a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after high school. Upon his return in 2020, Allen decided to take a chance and attend an open tryout for Snow College. That chance earned him a walk-on spot.  

“That was just another blessing — another opportunity to keep playing,” Allen said. “All I wanted to do was play. It didn’t matter where it was going to be. I knew that if I had the opportunity to play, then I could keep getting better, and I could prove that I was good enough to play.” 

His time at Snow was short, but he left after averaging 12.8 points, 6.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game his sophomore year and joining the Badgers at the NJCAA tournament for the first time in five decades.  

Allen then continued his basketball journey across the state after leaving Snow in 2022. He went on to play for Southern Utah University in the 2022-23 season and Utah Valley University in the 2023-24 season before making his way to Utah State in 2024. He said that each team he played for taught him something different about the game.  

“I’ve been able to learn a lot from different coaches, different teammates and just life experiences from where I’ve been,” Allen said. “Now I’m at Utah State, where I can take all those lessons and implement them every day.” 

Drake Allen, guard for Utah State, dribbles the ball down the court during the Utah State vs UNLV basketball game in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah on Jan. 20. (Dane Johnson/The Utah Statesman)

According to Allen, his decision to transfer to USU to play out his final season of eligibility was an easy one.  

“My mindset was, ‘I want to play at the best school I can in the best conference that I can just to challenge myself for my final year,’” Allen said. “It’s a dream for a Division I basketball player to play at a place like Utah State.” 

Allen quickly fell in love with the Aggie community and the atmosphere in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, saying a college town full of basketball-loving fans is exactly the environment he was looking for.  

“To also play for a school that has such history and culture — it makes it so much easier to come in and work every day when you know that the expectation is high and you’ve got to perform every single day in order to make the people that invest so much in this school, in the culture and the history proud,” Allen said. “I knew that there was a high expectation and the responsibility that came with it, and I knew that’s what I wanted in my final year.” 

That responsibility quickly made itself known to Allen — as did the pressure that came along with it. But it was nothing that Allen didn’t think he could handle.  “I’ve always wanted to be at the highest place I could be. I’ve always wanted to be a leader. I’ve always wanted to be someone that can help others get better, and if that’s the pressure that comes with it, then you’ve got to deal with it,” Allen said. “You’ve got to go in every single day — every hour, every minute is a chance to grow, to add something to your game, and I think that’s always been the mindset I’ve had from the beginning, is every day you got to get better.” 

Allen said he leans heavily on his family to help him handle the pressure.  

“As you play, your ‘why’ for why you work so hard kind of changes. Early in my career, it was to prove people wrong, and then I met my wife. What I want to do is be able to play basketball for as long as I can, and the main reason is to be able to provide for my family,” Allen said. “I want my wife to be proud, and I know that it wouldn’t be possible without her by my side supporting me, helping me, putting up with my ups and downs.” 

Guard Drake Allen talks with head coach Jerrod Calhoun during a free throw in the game against UNLV at the Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 13. (Kelly Winter/ The Utah Statesman)

Head coach Jerrod Calhoun said Allen’s influence and leadership on the team is clear. 

“He’s number one in the country at steal percentage right now, so he means a lot to this basketball team. I’ve said it all along: He’s been our most steady leader. He really defends, he really passes — just a gutsy effort,” Calhoun said on Nov. 21 after the team beat Tulane University 96-75 in the Charleston Classic. 

Allen said while he hopes to continue to play basketball into the future, he prefers to take each day one at a time.  

“I think I want to play basketball for as long as I can, but I’m also going to be a dad in February,” Allen said. “I’m very excited to see what the future holds.”