Nobody wanted Josh Allen. Seriously. In 2014, the guy who now clears 6'5" and launches 70-yard strikes like they’re nothing was a 180-pound string bean from Firebaugh, California, with exactly zero scholarship offers. Not from the big schools. Not even from the local ones.
He was a farm kid. He played three sports, worked on his family's cantaloupe farm, and had a highlight tape that apparently stayed at the bottom of every FBS coach’s inbox. So, he did what most desperate, overlooked athletes in the Central Valley do. He drove an hour east and enrolled at Josh Allen Reedley College.
It wasn’t a glamorous move. It was a "keep the dream alive by any means" move.
Why Reedley College Was the Only Choice
Honestly, it's kinda wild looking back. Allen wasn't some highly-touted recruit who failed out of a major program. He was just... invisible. He had grown up a massive Fresno State fan, even attending their camps, but the Bulldogs’ staff didn't give him a second look. They wanted a different profile of quarterback—one that wasn't quite as raw as the kid from Firebaugh.
Reedley offered a fresh start. It’s a small junior college (JUCO) where the crowds are thin and the stakes feel small until you realize this is the end of the line for most players.
The Recruitment of One
Ernie Rodriguez, who was the offensive coordinator at Reedley at the time, tells a story that sounds like something out of a movie. He had seen Allen play in high school and was basically the only person who saw the vision. Rodriguez didn't recruit a bunch of quarterbacks to compete. He didn't hedge his bets. He recruited Josh Allen.
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He threw all his chips in on the kid. But even with that support, Allen didn't just walk onto the field and start.
The Breakout: When the Tiger Found His Teeth
The first few weeks of the 2014 season were actually pretty quiet. Allen didn't start the first three games. He was sitting on the sidelines, watching, probably wondering if he’d ever get out of the JUCO system.
Then came the game against Gavilan College.
Allen didn't even start that game. He came off the bench and accounted for four rushing touchdowns. Just like that, the "Hollywood" nickname he’d picked up in high school started to make sense. He won the starting job and never looked back.
The Numbers That Forced People to Look
By the time the season wrapped up, the stats were basically ungodly. In just 10 games—most of which he started only the latter half—Allen put up some massive production:
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- 2,055 passing yards
- 26 passing touchdowns
- 660 rushing yards
- 10 rushing touchdowns
- Only 5 interceptions
He led a Reedley offense that averaged over 452 yards per game. They were ranked 9th in the entire state of California for total offense. People started showing up to Merced and Fresno just to see the "big kid at Reedley" who could hurdle defenders and flick the ball 60 yards downfield without breaking a sweat.
The Famous 1,000 Emails
Even with those numbers, the phones weren't exactly ringing off the hook. This is the part of the Josh Allen Reedley College story that every underdog athlete should memorize.
Josh didn't wait for a scout to find him. He sat down and sent a mass email to every single FBS head coach, offensive coordinator, and QB coach in the country. We’re talking over 1,000 emails. He included a link to his Hudl highlights and a brief message basically saying, "I’m 6'5", 210 pounds, and I can play."
The response? Almost total silence.
The Wyoming Connection
One coach eventually bit. Craig Bohl, the head coach at Wyoming, was looking for a specific type of "mountain man" quarterback. His offensive coordinator, Brent Vigen, saw the tape and noticed something. Allen looked a lot like a kid Vigen had recruited back at North Dakota State—a guy named Carson Wentz.
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Wyoming offered. Eastern Michigan offered too, but they eventually backed off. Fresno State? They still didn't want him. Allen even sent one last "look at me" email to the Fresno staff, pointing out he was bigger and stronger than the guy they had committed. They still said no.
So, Allen packed his bags for Laramie.
Lessons from the Reedley Trenches
Reedley wasn’t just about the stats. It was about the "O-line guy." Coach Rodriguez loves to tell the story of a teammate who didn't have a place to stay. Rodriguez asked Allen if the guy could crash on his couch for a couple of nights.
Those two nights turned into three weeks. Allen never asked for rent. He never complained. He just told his coach, "He’s my teammate, I’m going to take care of him." That’s the culture of Reedley. It’s a place where you either fold under the pressure of being overlooked or you become the kind of leader who carries the whole team on his back.
How to Apply the "Josh Allen Mindset"
If you're an athlete—or anyone, really—feeling like you’re stuck in your own version of a junior college, here is how you handle it like Allen did:
- Don't wait for permission. Allen sent 1,000 emails because he knew nobody was coming to save him. If you want a seat at the table, you have to build the chair.
- Performance is the best marketing. You can't just talk a big game. Allen put up 36 total touchdowns in 10 games. When the numbers are that loud, someone eventually has to listen.
- Use the chip on your shoulder. Being rejected by Fresno State didn't make him quit; it made him a "Winter Soldier." He used that rejection to fuel his transformation into an NFL MVP.
- Bet on yourself early. Moving to Reedley was a risk. He could have stayed home or given up. Instead, he bet that one year of JUCO would be enough to prove his worth.
The reality is that without that one year at Josh Allen Reedley College, the Buffalo Bills probably have a different quarterback today. That small school in the Central Valley wasn't a detour; it was the entire foundation of who Josh Allen became. It was where he learned that being an underdog isn't a disadvantage—it’s a superpower.