Five minutes with a hardshell is back! This month's featured hardshell is Isaiah Davis-Allen, who helped lead Maryland to the 2017 National Championship and was a two-time First Team USILA All-American as well as a two-year captain. Since graduating from Maryland in 2017, Davis-Allen has played professionally in both the PLL and NLL. He is currently a member of the Redwoods Lacrosse Club and the Philadelphia Wings.
What are some of your favorite parts and some of the challenges of playing lacrosse close to year-round?
"I enjoy just being able to compete every weekend, that's pretty cool and it keeps me in shape. I like to think it keeps me young as well, but that's yet to be seen. Obviously, the biggest challenge is balancing it with everything else that I have going on, especially work."
What type of work do you do?
"I'm a project manager in construction. I work for a general contractor here in the DC-Baltimore area. I started doing that pretty quickly out of school and have kept at it. It's been great."
What's it like getting to connect with and compete against so many former Terps in the professional leagues?
"I would say Maryland in general, whether you play professionally or not, we tend to be pretty close. We all stay in close contact and check in on each other every so often. But, it's definitely nice to see the guys who are playing most weekends, especially in the PLL where every team is going to one city. I definitely get to touch base with all the Maryland guys pretty much every weekend all summer. It's really special."
What are some of your fondest memories as a Terp?
"I would say some of my fondest times are some of the hardest. Those tough practices, being in the locker room after. And then being back at the house playing games with your roommates and teammates. On the field it's pretty obvious, but it was being able to win a National Championship. Doing it my senior year with my classmates was really special and it took a lot of hard work especially after losing the two previous years."
You're still in the local area and have been around the team a lot, most recently at the Hard Shell Collective's Tacos with the Terps event. Why has it been so important to you to stay connected with the program?
"It's important to me just because of how much Maryland has done for, not just the school, but the program in general. The program probably got me through school just with all the academic resources we had. All these kids today have this great opportunity with NIL today that we didn't have and I want to do my part as one of the "younger" guys to navigate that process and take the next steps in either building their brand or taking this sport further than just college."
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