By Scott Nulph
WyoSports 

Talent and leadership: UW's Allen is complete package

 

August 9, 2017

COURTESY/ Blaine McCartney/Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen throws downfield in the second half of the football spring scrimmage on April 22 at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.

So, how has the first half of 2017 been for you?

If you're Josh Allen, it's been pretty, pretty, pretty good ("Curb Your Enthusiasm" fans will get that).

Allen's 2017 started with a serious flirtation with the NFL draft. He even said yes at one point, but later had a change of heart and returned to the University of Wyoming for one more ride.

Then on the day the draft ended, Allen was proclaimed a possible No. 1 overall pick for next year by several draft gurus, including ESPN's Todd McShay.


What followed was a spring and summer in Laramie like no other for a UW athlete.

Publication after publication has stopped by our little piece of Laradise to talk with Allen, take his picture, get him throwing a football on film, grabbing a piece of No. 17 before the heat of the 2017 football season turns red hot.

Along the way, Allen has been asked a lot of questions, some serious, some innocuous and some downright silly.

At the Mountain West Media Summit – it's not longer Media Days, people, it's apparently a summit now – Allen was even asked straight out, "how do you feel about the Cleveland Browns?"


Uh, yeah. Answer that one why don't you.

Allen won't have to answer those types of questions for a while, instead finally getting to focus on the thing he loves doing – playing quarterback.

The Cowboys began fall camp this past Monday and today marks exactly one month before the 2017 schedule opens with one of the most highly-anticipated season openers in UW history – a road game at Iowa.


Allen spent all of Monday afternoon talking with anybody who wanted to ask him a question and was one of the last Cowboys to leave the Indoor Practice Facility.

Yet there's one question that doesn't need to be asked of Allen, and that's what kind of leader he is.

Cowboys fourth-year head coach Craig Bohl answered that question Monday without being asked.

Bohl proclaimed Allen as not just a leader for the Cowboys, but THE leader for the Cowboys.


And the Cowboys themselves will tell you the same thing.

I was curious how those around Allen were reacting to all the publicity and hype he was getting, and to a man every player I talked too couldn't be happier for Allen and his success.

UW senior offensive lineman Ryan Cummings said despite Allen being the center of the nation's attention on UW, he's remained the same humble, fun-loving guy who came to Laramie three years ago.

UW junior safety Andrew Wingard – who along with Allen helped UW corner the market on MW preseason player of the year awards – has seen no change in the Cowboy signal caller after six months of being told he's the next big thing in college football.

And that seems to fit Allen's personality to a tee.

There's never seemed to be a moment of "me first" with Allen, whether in a game or talking with the media.

Outside of the 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame that NFL scouts continue to drool over, he can enter a room without even being noticed at times.

And maybe most impressively, he's shown no signs of frustration this spring and summer over the learning curve his receivers and offensive line have had to go through after the NFL took his top targets from him.

Allen came close to leaving UW for the NFL this past winter – and if the 2017 season doesn't go as hoped or predicted – there surely will be plenty of naysayers out there who will be second-guessing Allen for not striking while the iron was red hot.

It's clear talking with Allen for even a couple minutes that he's firmly at peace with his decision to return to UW for one more season and he's determined to make 2017 even more memorable than 2016.

That's the kind of leadership one of the top quarterback in all of college football brings to the Cowboys.

Allen has answered everything thrown his way so far in 2017.

There's no reason to think he won't continue to make the right answers this fall.

Just maybe don't ask him about the Cleveland Browns.

 
 

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