Before he was hurdling DBs, trucking linebackers, or launching absolute nukes for the Bills, Josh Allen lived a shockingly quiet life on a farm. And despite being a freak athlete with a rocket for an arm, he was overlooked by every Division 1 college program in the country. This is the story of Josh Allen and how he went from zero-star recruit to NFL superstar.
Early Life and High School Career
His story starts on a 3-acre cotton farm in the small town of Firebaugh, California. Josh Allen was born on May 21st, 1996, to Lavonne and Joel Allen as the second of four children. His hometown, Firebaugh, was tiny, with a population of just 8,600 people. But without that upbringing, Josh wouldn't be the player he is today.
"I think that's why Josh developed into the player that he did because he didn't have a lot of the distractions that he would have had living in a larger town or a big city," his father said in 2017. He told ESPN that his dad "worked his tail off to provide for our family. If I'm half the man he is, I'll be alright in this world."
So Allen followed his dad's lead. This included hacking weeds, digging ditches, and moving irrigation pipes. "We didn't grow up where we could just hop on our bikes and go to a buddy's house, like me and my siblings. We had to figure out how to have fun on the farm." He'd also help his mother at their family restaurant, Farmer's Daughter.
But as you might have guessed, Josh kept himself busy with other hobbies outside of farm life. He played every sport in the book: football, baseball, basketball. He even swam in the summer. And he was great at every sport he played. He led the Firebaugh High School basketball team in scoring and could throw a 90 mph fastball.
But because he played so many sports and was busy with practices and the farm, he didn't have time to attend high-profile football camps to get more exposure. And it didn't help that Firebaugh was far from a football powerhouse. In fact, their rival school, Mendota, always destroyed them when they played. But that would all change once Josh Allen arrived... well, and grew.
Because when he started high school, Allen was listed at a skinny 6'2", 180 lb, and he didn't even start until his junior year. However, those final two years, he balled out. His junior year included 26 touchdowns, leading his team to a 7-3 record, and they beat their rival, Mendota, for the first time in over 10 years. Then his senior year was even more impressive, because Allen threw 33 touchdowns and just 5 interceptions with the best record in school history. He ended his high school career throwing for 5,200 yards and 59 touchdowns. In fact, Allen is the only player in Firebaugh High School history to have his number retired.
Completely turning around the fortunes of a historically terrible high school program had to have some weight in college recruiting, right? Nope, not at all. His competition was considered weak, so Allen received zero Division 1 offers, despite his stellar high school career. He did receive a walk-on option from San Diego State, but this came with no guarantee that he would get playing time. But even as a zero-star recruit, he still confidently said, "I'm not stopping until I hit the NFL."
Now, Josh Allen could have stopped playing football then and there, but a man by the name of Ernie Rodriguez kept Allen on the field. He was the offensive coordinator at Reedley College and was the one coach who actually believed in Allen's ability on the football field. He saw something in the Firebaugh High School star outside of him being ranked top four in the nation in Diversified Crop Production.
Related: 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Josh Allen
College Years
So Josh attended Reedley College, which was just 1 hour away from Firebaugh. But even junior college started rough. Allen started his JC career as a backup for the first three games. And after growing 2 inches, now standing at 6'5", 210 lb, he got his chance, and he showed out. In his very first collegiate game, he ran for four touchdowns. And in just 10 games, he had 2,055 yards and 26 touchdowns. This season was one for the record books because the team averaged 42.2 yards per game and was the ninth-ranked JC offense in all of California. And Allen was a huge part of that, because Reedley put up 285 passing yards per game and 39.4 points per game, which was 10th in the state.
This success led Allen to have even greater motivation to play Division 1 football. He was ready, but no one was calling, so he had to do it himself. Allen sent emails to every possible college in the nation, from Alabama to Washington. He held out hope. His messages looked like this, even linking his football highlights. Plus, now he was even bigger, still 6'5", but now weighing 238 lb. However, just two colleges came back with offers: Eastern Michigan and Wyoming.
And here's where it got weird, because Wyoming had scouted Reedley College for one of Allen's teammates, and they didn't offer Allen a scholarship until they found out they lost another prospect they wanted, Eric Dungey, who went to Syracuse. Then Eastern Michigan rescinded their offer after Allen visited Wyoming. But that's okay, because Wyoming coach Craig Bohl was the only FBS coach in the entire nation that came to directly visit Josh Allen in California, simply telling his dad, "We went all around the country, and there's only one quarterback we want, and that's your son. He's going to be the face of our program."
Still, Allen held out hope for his favorite team growing up, Fresno State, the team he dreamed of playing for since he was 8 years old. But Fresno State went with another option. So after they got a commitment from the smaller, 175 lb Chason Virgil, Allen emailed him saying, "6'1", 170," to which they responded, "Yeah, we got our guy. Good luck."
So off to Wyoming Allen went, with an even bigger chip on his shoulder. But this marked the beginning of an even more challenging chapter of his football career. In 2015, Josh started his career at Wyoming as the backup behind Cameron Coffman, an Indiana graduate transfer. But it didn't take long for Allen to get his chance, because in the 2015 opener, Coffman injured his knee. So Josh started the second game of the season, ironically against the team that passed on him, Eastern Michigan. But in just the first quarter, a 24-yard run turned into a disaster. Allen's collarbone shattered into seven different pieces, quickly ending his 2015 season as a medical redshirt after just 13 plays.
However, this extra time actually helped, because he took that time to not only study the playbook, but to get faster and stronger.
In 2016, Allen was the Cowboys' day one starter, and this is the season he put college football on notice. This included one of the biggest wins in Wyoming history, beating the 13th-ranked Boise State 30-28 early in the season. And with two big wins against top 25 teams, the Cowboys put up 35.9 points per game, good for second in the Mountain West and 25th in the entire nation. Allen threw for 3,203 yards and 36 total touchdowns: 28 passing, 7 rushing, and 1 receiving touchdown. However, it wasn't all great. He also threw 15 interceptions and completed just 56% of his passes that year. But it didn't matter, because Wyoming took home the Mountain West Conference regular season title and played San Diego State for the conference championship, falling 27-24.
This season was a major stepping stone for Josh, so big that he even considered taking the next big leap to the NFL. He talked with multiple people to make a decision. This included his dad, head coach Craig Bohl, and even Carson Wentz. But Bohl ultimately convinced him by saying, "Do you want to get drafted, or do you want to get drafted high?"
So Allen returned to Wyoming for his redshirt junior season in 2017. And while his numbers didn't improve much, he still had some impressive games. This included a 376-yard, 3-touchdown performance against Iowa. But the Cowboys finished with a disappointing 8-5 record, and Allen's draft stock was all over the place. Some analysts were high on him, while others were very critical.
"I don't care about his arm strength. I don't care about his athleticism. I don't care about his size. I don't care about his leadership. I don't care about his work ethic. I don't care about his toughness. I don't care about his competitiveness. I don't care about his pocket presence. I don't care about his deep ball accuracy. I don't care about his intermediate accuracy. I don't care about his short accuracy. All I care about is his inaccuracy. He completed 56% of his passes, which is not very good. Didn't step up against good teams. Throwing the ball 70 mph isn't important. How often is he going to need a set to throw the ball 90 yards? He might throw what, one Hail Mary per year? This is unimportant to me."
And a stacked quarterback class in 2018 made it difficult to place Allen. But if we look at his 2018 draft profile, many could argue it was right on the money: a Round 1 pick, a 6.4 prospect grade, and said to become a good starter within 2 years.
NFL Career
So how did those first two years go? The Buffalo Bills took Allen with the seventh overall pick. They traded up from 12th to get him, as they had an up-and-down experience with Tyrod Taylor from 2015 to 2017. However, Allen was not named a starter at the beginning of his rookie season. But it wouldn't take long. During the season opener against Baltimore, then-starter Nathan Peterman posted a 0.0 passer rating with 5 picks in the first half. So Allen was asked to step up in his first NFL action ever. On September 9th, 2018, Allen had 74 passing yards, but they lost 47-3. Then the next week, he was asked to start.
In Allen's 2018 rookie season, he was 5-6 as a starter. And just like the record, Allen showed flashes of great play, but also some horrible decision-making. He ended 2018 with more interceptions than passing touchdowns, but also had 8 rushing TDs. For analysts, this was almost spot-on with their predictions: flashes of greatness, but overall inconsistent and a project quarterback. The Bills didn't make the playoffs, and they ended Allen's rookie year with a 6-10 record, which was worse than their record in 2017. So there was nowhere to go but up.
The next season, not only did the Bills flip their record to 10-6, Allen made massive strides, and the numbers prove it: 3,089 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 9 rushing TDs, and just 9 interceptions, as he improved his completion percentage by 6%. But the most important part: the Bills made the playoffs. They took on the Texans in the Wild Card round, but a back-and-forth battle would end in an epic overtime.
So now the question became, could Josh Allen keep getting better? The answer is yes, because in 2022, he just kept breaking records. Allen led the league in total air yards with 2,067. And in Week 5, had the longest pass play in Bills franchise history with a 98-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Davis.
The Bills finished that season 13-3, winning their third straight division title. Allen finished the season with 4,283 passing yards, 35 passing touchdowns, and 7 rushing TDs. And after the emotional recovery of Damar Hamlin following his medical emergency in Week 17, Buffalo had all the motivation they needed leading into the playoffs. And Josh Allen continued to roll. The Bills beat Miami in the Wild Card game 34-31 with 352 yards and 3 touchdowns from Allen. But then a snowy divisional round matchup with Cincinnati ended their Super Bowl dreams.
Now the narrative around Josh Allen was whether or not he could ever get over the hump in the playoffs.
And unfortunately, fortunately, the negative vibes carried over into the start of the 2023 season. Not only did they fall Week 1 to the Jets, who had Zach Wilson take over after Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles, but Allen also threw 3 picks. But Allen was able to steady the ship, finishing strong with 4,436 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns, and the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback ever with 15. He broke Kyler Murray's record with the most games in a season with both a passing and rushing touchdown with 11. In addition, Allen became the only player in NFL history to have four straight seasons with over 40 total touchdowns and helped Buffalo tie a franchise record for most consecutive AFC titles with four, something they hadn't done since 1991.
But all of this didn't matter without playoff success, and the Bills fans were starting to become restless. So Allen started the playoff campaign with a stellar performance against the Steelers in the Wild Card round, including this 52-yard house call.
But all roads in the AFC lead to one team: the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, who the Bills would face in the divisional round, this time at home for the first time in Allen's career. But despite Josh accounting for all three of Buffalo's touchdowns, they lost in the divisional round for the third straight season.
And after this, many were convinced the Bills' championship window was officially closed. And the 2024 offseason only made that noise louder. The departure of many of the Bills' key pieces over the years, most notably Stefon Diggs, marked a new era in Buffalo. One thing remains the same, and that's Josh Allen leading the charge. He started the first month of 2024 with 7 touchdowns and no interceptions, continuing to show that with him at the helm, anything is possible.
And while people continue to doubt his greatness, even being named the most overrated player in the league in an anonymous poll by his peers...
Josh Allen was voted as the most overrated player.
He continues to silence the haters with elite quarterback play, as the Bills are well on their way to another division title, and Allen is once again an MVP candidate. And at the end of the day, he's doing pretty damn well for a farmer from Firebaugh.