From Firebaugh to Reedley to Wyoming

Josh Allen grew up in Firebaugh, California — a town of about 8,000 in the Central Valley. He attended Firebaugh High School where he played quarterback in a 6-man system that produced essentially zero recruiting attention. He was a 0-star recruit out of high school with no scholarship offers. He went to Reedley College (also known as Reedley JC) in 2014 — a community college in central California — to play quarterback.

Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl saw Allen at a Reedley spring game in 2015 and offered him a scholarship — the only Division I program to do so. Allen transferred to Laramie in summer 2015, sat out as a non-academic transfer redshirt, then started in 2016 and 2017. He passed for 5,066 yards and 44 TDs across his two starting seasons and led Wyoming to the 2016 Mountain West championship game.

Late-rising 2018 draft prospect

Josh Allen entered the 2018 NFL Draft as one of the most-debated quarterback prospects of the modern era. His arm strength was widely considered the best in the draft, but his college completion percentage (56.2% career) and Wyoming’s poor surrounding talent made the projection uncertain. The Buffalo Bills traded up from #12 to #7 to select him on April 26, 2018 — passing on Sam Darnold (#3 to Jets), Baker Mayfield (#1 to Browns), and Lamar Jackson (#32 to Ravens).

Allen had an inconsistent rookie year, broke through statistically in 2020 (4,544 yards, 37 TDs, first Pro Bowl), and has been a Pro Bowl QB every year since. He won the 2024 NFL MVP — Buffalo’s first MVP in franchise history. Allen has led the Bills to 6 consecutive AFC East titles and 2 AFC Championship Games, though he hasn’t yet reached the Super Bowl.

Wyoming after Allen

Wyoming retired Josh Allen’s #17 jersey in 2019 — the school’s first football jersey retirement since LeRoy Knappen in 1962. The Wyoming football program named the QB room ‘The Allen Room’ in 2022. Allen donates significantly to the Wyoming athletics program and to the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center after the death of his grandmother.

Allen’s path remains the gold standard for unrecruited late-bloomer QB prospects. NFL scouts now systematically check JUCO and FCS QB depth charts for Allen-type frames (6’5″, 240+ lb arm strength) — a direct response to him being missed twice (out of high school and out of his redshirt year).

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Josh Allen and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records.