To put it simply in two words, Jeff Allen. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, let me give you the back story. Jeff Allen is Alabama’s Associate Athletics Director, Sports Medicine. While his name may not be a household name among the Crimson Tide fan base, it is among his peers. He is simply the best there is at coming up with ways to get players healed better and faster than maybe any hospital or rehab center could hope to do.

Jeff Allen is the head of perhaps the absolute best team of sports trainers and rehab people in all of college football. He has returned some people back to play so well and so fast that it’s nothing short of miraculous. He has been published in The Journal of Athletic Training and Athletic Therapy Today. Allen is often the featured speaker at conferences held by the National Athletic Trainers Association and the Southeast Athletic Trainers Association, and is also often found in other regional and state meetings. As previously stated, he is the best among the best.

But going back, Allen graduated from Ga. Southern with a BS in physical education followed up with a Graduate Degree from Valdosta State where he also obtained his wife Mary.

After bouncing from Kentucky to U.T. Chatanooga and then Central Florida where as head trainer, he became friends with Lance Thompson who was UCF’s defensive coach. When Thompson was offered the chance to rejoin Saban in Tuscaloosa he did, and when a need for a new head trainer also opened up, Thompson suggested Allen to Saban and the rest is history.

Allen was always studying ways to perfect his craft. He would look at hundreds of gizmos, gadgets and pieces of equipment to find just the one thing he thought could make a difference.

We all remember Eddie Lacy, a standout running back at Alabama. What you may have forgotten was Lacy had a condition that almost sidelined his career, severe turf toe. Allen searched for something that could help him recondition him without further aggravating that condition. What he found was a device called an AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, but it was 75 thousand dollars. It allowed an athlete to continue to run and build up his leg muscles without having all that weight on any affected injured area from the waist down.

I remember Mal Moore telling me about it and when hearing the price tag. Moore said he smiled and said they could have it. “Hell, I can get 75 thousand with just one phone call!” Moore said laughing. After all, the best deserve the best in return.

Not only did it help get Lacy back in the game, it’s been used by countless other athletes such as Barrett Jones, who’s foot injury at playoff time was so critical that they had another one flown to Miami so he could continue his rehab on it right up to game time.

More recently Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama’s former quarterback has used it and now Waddle can practice running and keep up his training without having to put weight on that injured ankle or in Tua’s case, his hip.

This is what the machine looks like, but what it does is miraculous. A computer controls all the variables and nothing is left to chance. Waddle will be running on this machine weeks before he could attempt and running without it. Gradually more and more weight can be used until it’s not needed any more.

This is just part of the reason Alabama and Waddle too are so fortunate to have Jeff Allen on staff. The other is his infectious optimism and his deep spiritual beliefs. He is one of the most beloved staff members on the team and players have learned always has their best interest at heart.

He doesn’t just build up their bodies and limbs, he builds up their faith and confidence that when they return they have nothing to fear. Players like Miller Forristall, Alabama’s tight end can’t sing enough praises for what Allen and his staff have done for him in his rehab. He doesn’t have to fear that he can’t attempt any move he made before the injury and that he can give 100 percent of himself and his body in going forward.

When folks said Waddle’s season was over, well maybe it would have been at other schools, but both Allen and Waddle will have the final say about what happens. And if you still think that Waddle won’t be fixed soon, that’s your right, but I wouldn’t place any money on it knowing what Allen has done before.

Larry Burton is the senior writer at Touchdown Alabama Magazine and has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports. He was Bleacher Report’s #1 college football writer in reads and comments and now has slowed down his writing from that hectic pace. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at twitter.com/LBSportswriter