If you look at Josh Allen today—the massive frame, the cannon of an arm, the way he hurdles linebackers like they’re minor inconveniences—you’d assume he was a blue-chip recruit. You’d think every major program in the country was beating down his door in high school. But that is not even close to the truth. Honestly, the reality is much more "middle of nowhere" than "Friday Night Lights" fame.
So, where did Josh Allen play football in college? He didn't just have one stop. He took the long road, starting at a tiny junior college before becoming a legend in Laramie.
The Reedley College Year: Zero Offers
Before he was the face of the Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen was a kid in Firebaugh, California, with exactly zero Division I scholarship offers. Zero. It's wild to think about now, but coming out of high school, he was roughly 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds. He was skinny. He didn't do the "Elite 11" camps. He played baseball and basketball, and he worked on his family's farm.
Because nobody wanted him, he ended up at Reedley College, a junior college in California. This was 2014. He didn't even start the first three games of the season.
Basically, he had to wait for his turn. When he finally got in, he went off. He ran for four touchdowns in his first real appearance coming off the bench and eventually threw 26 touchdowns that season. He was leading an offense that put up over 450 yards a game. You’d think the big schools would’ve noticed then, right? Nope. He sent out emails to every coach he could find. He was literally begging for a chance.
The Wyoming Cowboys and the Craig Bohl Gamble
Only two schools really gave him a look after that JUCO season: Eastern Michigan and the University of Wyoming.
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Wyoming’s head coach, Craig Bohl, had previously coached Carson Wentz at North Dakota State. He knew what a "project" quarterback looked like. He saw this tall, raw kid from a farm and saw a superstar. In 2015, Allen moved to Laramie, Wyoming.
It wasn't an instant success story. His first season with the Cowboys in 2015 lasted all of about thirteen minutes. In his first career start against Eastern Michigan, he broke his collarbone. Just like that, his season was over. He took a medical redshirt and had to watch from the sidelines while the team struggled.
Breaking Out in 2016
When 2016 rolled around, Josh Allen finally got to show why Bohl took the risk. He was healthy, and he was dangerous. He threw for 3,203 yards and 28 touchdowns.
What really put him on the map wasn't just the stats, though. It was the "wow" plays. He was making throws from his knees, or while being tackled, that made NFL scouts drool. He led Wyoming to an 8-6 record and a spot in the Mountain West Championship game. He actually considered leaving for the NFL right then, but he decided to stay one more year to finish what he started.
The 2017 Season and the "Accuracy" Debate
His final year in college, 2017, is where the "draft experts" started to argue. His stats actually dipped. He threw for only 1,812 yards and 16 touchdowns. He missed two games with a shoulder injury.
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Critics pointed at his completion percentage—it was usually hovering around 56%. They said he was "inaccurate." They said he was just a big arm with no touch. But if you actually watched those Wyoming games, you saw a guy playing with a roster that was outmatched by Power Five schools like Iowa and Oregon. He was doing everything himself.
He finished his college career on a high note, though. In the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, he came back from injury and threw three touchdowns in the first quarter alone against Central Michigan. He was the MVP of the game. He walked off that field as a projected top-10 pick.
Why Wyoming Was the Perfect Fit
Laramie is a tough place to play. It's at 7,220 feet of elevation. It's cold. It's windy. For a guy like Josh Allen, who grew up working on a farm, the grit of Wyoming suited him.
He wasn't pampered. He played in the snow. He played through pain. The "Winter Soldier" nickname he eventually got in Buffalo basically started in the freezing winds of War Memorial Stadium.
Recently, in late 2025, Wyoming officially retired his No. 17 jersey. He’s only the third player in the school's history to have a number retired. He’s also been inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame. For a guy who couldn't get a single scholarship offer out of high school, that’s a pretty decent ending to the college chapter.
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College Legacy and Career Totals
By the time he left for the 2018 NFL Draft, Allen had left a permanent mark on the program. He accounted for over 5,800 yards of total offense during his time as a Cowboy.
- Passing Yards: 5,066
- Passing TDs: 44
- Rushing Yards: 767
- Rushing TDs: 12
It's funny to look back at the scouts who were "worried" about his completion percentage. They missed the fact that he was a 237-pound athlete who could throw a ball through a brick wall.
If you’re looking for a lesson in Allen’s journey, it’s basically that the "recruiting stars" don't mean a thing if you have the work ethic. He went from a junior college backup to a Wyoming legend to an NFL MVP candidate.
If you're following Josh Allen's career now, you should check out the official Wyoming Athletics archives or his Pro-Football-Reference page to see how those college "scary" stats actually translated into a Hall of Fame-caliber NFL start. You might also want to look into the 2018 NFL Draft history to see just how many teams regret passing on the kid from Firebaugh who played in the Wyoming cold.