The curious case of Wyoming’s Allen
LARAMIE, Wyo. — The stands of War Memorial Stadium are mostly empty as Josh Allen makes his way toward midfield, ball in hand.
Allen is wearing a T-shirt, brown baggy basketball shorts and headphones. Wyoming’s game against Oregon is still about 90 minutes away, but the show is about to start. Representatives from 16 NFL teams are gathered on the sideline to see one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in the country, and he doesn’t disappoint. He’s big, but nimble, and the ball explodes from his hand effortlessly.
He looks like a natural, only there’s a problem.
This will end up being the best part of Allen’s day. During the game, he took a beating and completed just six passes.
Allen is a fascinating case study of the NFL evaluation process. He is a rare physical talent, but his teammates have been overmatched by top-notch competition. As a result, so has he. While some fans look at Allen’s underwhelming stats against Power Five competition and proclaim: “OV-ER-RA-TED!” scouts are digging deeper. A player’s draft stock does rise and fall from week to week. In the long run, how Allen deals with failure could be more valuable to him than if he had thrown four touchdown passes against the Ducks.
“Everything is not black and white,” former NFL general manager Bill Polian said. “What goes on this season is important. You’re going to want to watch the tape. You’re going to want to watch his team live. You’re going to want to see how he handles adversity. You want to see how he performs with a lesser team around him than he had last year.”
When it comes to dealing with adversity, Allen has already overcome so much. He was a zero-star high schooler who grew up on his parents’ ranch in Firebaugh, Calif., about 40 miles northeast of Fresno. He was not a product of the quarterback industrial complex. He did not receive hours of private coaching as a teenager or play seven-on-seven tournaments year-round.
Allen played baseball and basketball in high school. He also swam, and learned karate as a kid. He worked on the ranch, attending to the cantaloupe, wheat and cotton. From that he learned “you don’t want to do it for the rest of your life.”
He landed at Reedley College, a junior college in central California, and there the long, lanky kid began to fill out. Wyoming coach Craig Bohl and offensive coordinator Brent Vigen — who at FCS power North Dakota State developed Carson Wentz from a no-star to the second-overall NFL draft pick — came across Allen while looking into a lineman at Reedley.
As Allen grew to 6-feet-5, 230 pounds, the buzz started. His first chance to impress on a big stage was at Nebraska last season, and he threw five interceptions. He went on to help the Cowboys reach the Mountain West championship game. He considered entering the NFL draft last season, but stayed after being advised he would benefit from another year of development, gaining a better understanding of what it takes to play quarterback at the highest level.
“I think his ability to understand the game, understand preparation, attention to detail. Really, truly, being consumed by that part of it is still a work in progress,” Vigen said. “I think that’s part of his maturity and part of
the reason his coming back will be so beneficial to him.”
The team Allen returned to, though, is depleted. Running back Brian Hill was drafted in the fifth round by the Falcons, and center Chase Roullier was a sixth-round pick by the Redskins. The Cowboys’ three leading receivers from 2016 are gone.
But because of Allen, who had been hyped as a possible firstround draft pick all summer, expectations for the Cowboys were still high. Reality set in when Wyoming was beaten 24-3 in the opener at Iowa and Allen threw for 174 yards and two interceptions.
Still, there were moments when Allen’s gifts were on display.
“Third down, rips an absolute freakin’ dime on a rope 45 yards, hits the guy on the facemask. Incomplete,” said former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who works with the Elite 11 quarterback competition for top high school prospects.
Then came Oregon last weekend, and it got even worse. The Ducks were all over Allen and he went 6 for 24 for 64 yards with an interception and two fumbles in the 49-13 loss.
Evaluators generally agree that Allen is physically ahead of Wentz, who blew away NFL executives with his competitive character, leadership skills and willingness and capacity to learn.
Those traits usually make or break quarterbacks in the NFL. That part of evaluating Allen is incomplete, but will have a far greater effect on where he will be drafted than his stats against Oregon. Faking those traits is more difficult when times are tough.
“And I hope people see that I’m going to be battle-tested,” Allen said “I’m going to be put through the ringer. Mentally, physically, whatever the case may be, it’s going to make me a better quarterback.”
As Josh Allen grew to 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, the buzz started. His first chance to impress on a big stage was at Nebraska last season, and he threw five interceptions. He went on to help the Cowboys reach the Mountain West championship game.