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https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/11/14/josh-allen-wyoming-2018-nfl-draft-top-small-school-prospects
On the surface, the stats aren’t flattering for Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. The junior’s completion percentage, 56.2%, is just a fraction better than it was last year, while his yards per attempt (6.61, down from 8.59) and passer rating (124.0, down from 144.9) have taken a dive. In two games against Power 5 foes, his Cowboys took double-digit losses and he threw three picks without a touchdown pass. And in an era where 500-yard games are normal for quarterbacks, Allen has cracked 250 once this season—against Gardner-Webb, an FCS program that hasn’t beaten a Division I opponent in 2017.
So no, this wasn’t exactly what Allen envisioned when he decided to return to Laramie for a fourth year. But in a way, it’s just what Craig Bohl figured he needed. And if you follow the Cowboys coach’s logic, it’s easy to see where Allen will benefit from it.
“We had an exodus,” Bohl said from his office Monday. “Every player who touched the football last year was on an NFL roster, and that’s not typical of what we usually have at the University of Wyoming. . . . Whenever we make a good play now, more of it’s on him. And we appreciate the guys around him, but the easy throws, plays that were made, they’re not there. It forces you to play better. And he’s done that.”
Indeed, this fall, running back Brian Hill is on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad, tight end Jacob Hollister is a Patriot, receiver Tanner Gentry has been on and off the Bears roster, and receiver/tight end Jake Maulhardt was in minicamp with the Saints. And so Allen is throwing, in effect, to a new and far less experienced team, and statistically you can see the effects.
That’s why Allen is going to be a complex prospect for scouts to kick the tires on, because his trajectory is unusual. He went from tremendously talented triggerman of a veteran team to breaking a completely new crew into game action. And that kept him from doing what scouts want mid-major prospects to do: totally dominate their level of competition.
This week, we’ll introduce you to a handful of guys you probably aren’t watching on Saturdays. But we’re starting with the polarizing Allen, and chipping away at why, in my mid-October poll, six of eight execs ranked him among the Top 3 quarterbacks in the 2018 class (one had him first, and another had him second). Yet, since then, others have told me they wouldn’t touch him on the first night of the draft.
On the surface, the stats aren’t flattering for Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. The junior’s completion percentage, 56.2%, is just a fraction better than it was last year, while his yards per attempt (6.61, down from 8.59) and passer rating (124.0, down from 144.9) have taken a dive. In two games against Power 5 foes, his Cowboys took double-digit losses and he threw three picks without a touchdown pass. And in an era where 500-yard games are normal for quarterbacks, Allen has cracked 250 once this season—against Gardner-Webb, an FCS program that hasn’t beaten a Division I opponent in 2017.
So no, this wasn’t exactly what Allen envisioned when he decided to return to Laramie for a fourth year. But in a way, it’s just what Craig Bohl figured he needed. And if you follow the Cowboys coach’s logic, it’s easy to see where Allen will benefit from it.
“We had an exodus,” Bohl said from his office Monday. “Every player who touched the football last year was on an NFL roster, and that’s not typical of what we usually have at the University of Wyoming. . . . Whenever we make a good play now, more of it’s on him. And we appreciate the guys around him, but the easy throws, plays that were made, they’re not there. It forces you to play better. And he’s done that.”
Indeed, this fall, running back Brian Hill is on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad, tight end Jacob Hollister is a Patriot, receiver Tanner Gentry has been on and off the Bears roster, and receiver/tight end Jake Maulhardt was in minicamp with the Saints. And so Allen is throwing, in effect, to a new and far less experienced team, and statistically you can see the effects.
That’s why Allen is going to be a complex prospect for scouts to kick the tires on, because his trajectory is unusual. He went from tremendously talented triggerman of a veteran team to breaking a completely new crew into game action. And that kept him from doing what scouts want mid-major prospects to do: totally dominate their level of competition.
This week, we’ll introduce you to a handful of guys you probably aren’t watching on Saturdays. But we’re starting with the polarizing Allen, and chipping away at why, in my mid-October poll, six of eight execs ranked him among the Top 3 quarterbacks in the 2018 class (one had him first, and another had him second). Yet, since then, others have told me they wouldn’t touch him on the first night of the draft.
