Rutgers football has added some extra help to its linebacker core, as Drake’s Sean Allison has decided to sign with the Scarlet Knights. Allison was able to sign with Rutgers out of the transfer portal because the Knights hired former Drake head coach Joe Woodley as their rushing ends coach, which opened a transfer portal window for current Drake players after a new head coach was hired. He joins former South Dakota cornerback Mikey Munn as a player who joined the team via the defensive coaching staff shakeup this offseason.
Allison, who is 6 feet tall and 235 pounds, is from Hinsdale, Illinois. He enrolled at Drake as part of the 2022 recruiting class and will have one year to play for Rutgers before his eligibility ends.
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Allison redshirted his freshman year in 2022, before appearing in 12 games in 2023. He will appear in 35 total games during his career at Drake, 24 of which he started.
Allison had an extremely impressive year for the Bulldogs last season, as he recorded 126 total tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3 pass breakups, and 2 interceptions. He was named a third-team All-American by Stats Perform and FCS Football Central, won the Pioneer Football League Defensive Player of the Year award, and was named to the league’s first-team defense. He was also named one of 30 finalists for the 2025 Buck Buchanan Award, which is an award given to the best defensive player in the FCS at the end of each season.
Allison recorded eight games with double-digit tackles for Drake last season. 2025 was his second straight season with at least 100 tackles.
In addition to joining his former head coach at Rutgers, he will also join his former defensive coordinator, Adam Cox, who was named the Knights’ safeties coach in early February.
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The Knights have plenty of talent coming at the linebacker position. On top of that, they also added Rice linebacker Ty Morris to the transfer portal this offseason. Bringing in guys like Allison and Morris gives young linebackers like Kamar Archie and DJ McClary more time to develop, while hopefully providing an immediate boost to the linebacker core, which had a rough 2025 season like the rest of the defense.
