He has to get healthy first.

Allen’s agent, Jared Lane, said Tuesday that Allen still was recovering from shoulder surgery that was performed just a few days after KU’s season finale at Missouri last November. That surgery came with a six-month recovery, meaning Allen is not yet 100 percent.

“He’s still a month away from being able to perform,” Lane said. “If a team signs with him now, he won’t even pass the physical.”

Which, if that occurred, would put a bad reputation on Allen that he may not be able to shake.

Four teams contacted Allen before the NFL Draft last weekend, and about six have been in touch since the seven-round draft was completed without him being selected.

Lane wouldn’t disclose which teams were inquiring, but said he expected Allen to get renewed interest once he’s ready to play again.

“After I kind of explained things (to Allen), he understands the process now,” Lane said.

Allen’s promising senior season was wrecked by health problems, ranging from a bad shoulder to a right-knee injury.

He played through all of them, collecting 14 tackles, three sacks and five quarterback hurries in part-time duty. He was an honorable-mention All-Big 12 pick as a junior despite starting only two games.

Allen’s situation is similar to former KU teammate Charlton Keith’s. A defensive end himself, Keith signed with the Cleveland Browns after the 2006 NFL Draft but failed his physical because of a wrist injury. It was long after he was completely recovered before Keith got another shot, again with the Browns.

After spending half of ’06 on Cleveland’s practice squad, Keith now is with the Oakland Raiders.

¢ Delighted: The Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League are flying high right now.

Not only do they have three of the first six picks in today’s CFL Canadian draft, but they were able to, somewhat surprisingly, secure their first pick last year – former KU running back Jon Cornish, who went 13th overall in the second round.

Cornish had said he’d go to the CFL only if he wasn’t drafted by an NFL team. And that’s exactly how it unfolded.

“I definitely thought Jon would go on the second day (of the NFL Draft),” Calgary general manager Jim Barker told the Canadian Press. “He definitely had offers from the NFL to sign as a free agent, but his feeling was if he wasn’t drafted he wanted an opportunity to go somewhere where he was wanted.

“That was his stance all along, and he lived up to it, which is certainly good for us.”

The Canadian Press reported that Cornish received a signing bonus “exceeding $20,000” in Canadian dollars – much more than the usual $10,000 signing bonus that NFL teams pay undrafted free agents. Twenty thousand Candian dollars is nearly equal to $18,000 American. As for CFL salaries, starting quarterbacks make well into six figures, while a featured running back may command a six-figure salary, as well.