South Florida's Nate Allen invited to all-star games

South Florida star free safety Nate Allen has been invited to both the 2010 Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game. Rules will disallow him from playing in both games, so it's likely he'll opt for the more prestigious Senior Bowl.

Allen is currently ranked by MTD as the third-best senior free safety in the nation. After our new rankings are complete, Allen is going to be second behind Southern California's Taylor Mays.

This season, Allen has 36 tackles and three interceptions. He's collected those interceptions in the last two weeks against Syracuse and Cincinnati.

Because South Florida has such an aggressive front seven and will play a cover-2, Allen isn't relied on to make a lot of plays. Like Mays, he'll often roam the center back in coverage and provide help.

Allen has an NFL frame at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds and shows plenty of instincts in his game. He projects as an early second-round pick and could start immediately in the NFL.