Josh Allen Carries the Ball in 12/7/25 Win over the Bengals
McCoy Tyner / Impressions
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John Fraim
There are a few people I consider “great” in the world.
In many ways, I think the distance traveled in life by people has to be factored into the idea of greatness. There is the great drama from this distance traveled. A great person to many is judged simply by their “greatness” definition in culture and society at the present time. Few are interested in the context of any content these days.
For me, I look into the context of lives of people who are heros or heroines today. What has been their road to success in the world? How far have they traveled to get where they are.
Here, I accidentally looked into the context of sports watching Josh Allen, Quaterbak for the Buffalo Bills beat the Cincinnati Begals Joe Burrows playing a brilliant game. In a Buffalo snowstorm, behind the Bengals on one of the impressive “come back” games of Joe Barrows, Allen proved he was again a winner against all odds. Winning against the Bengals. Sure there were some bad plays by Burrows but this story is not about Burrows but a guy from Firebaugh, California (40 miles west of Fresno, California in the great Central Valley of California.
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Josh Allen has come a long way from where he grew up on a 3,000-acre cotton farm near Firebaugh, California, a small town about 40 miles west of Fresno, California. Born May 21, 1996, his family has lived in the Firebaugh area since his great-grandfather Arvid Allen, a Swedish immigrant, settled there during the Great Depression. The farm where he was raised was established in 1975 by his paternal grandfather, who was also a longtime member of the local school board and namesake of the gymnasium of Firebaugh High School from which Allen graduated in 2014.
Most comments about Firebaugh on the Internet a pretty safe and dull town to live in. You can walk around without worrying too much about your safety. Its also a very close community, everyone knows almost everyone. “The one thing I don’t really like,” says one commentor on the Internet, “is the lack of activities, but other than that I don’t have many complaints.”
Growing up as a Fresno State fan who regularly attended both games and football camps, Allen tried to draw the interest of the program’s coaching staff; his father tried to sell the Bulldogs’ head coach at the time, Tim DeRuyter, on him, but DeRuyter chose not to offer a scholarship. DeRuyter was not alone in this assessment. Allen received no scholarship offers from any NCAA Division programs. Whether in the top-level FBS or second-tier FCS. San Diego State made him an offer to walk on. But Allen turned it down because Aztecs coach Rocks Long could not guarantee any playing time. In a 2017 story on Allen, ESPN journalist Mark Schlabach speculated on why Allen got so little interest out of high school:
“At the time, Josh was about 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds. He hadn’t attended the elite quarterback camps and wasn’t a widely known prospect. His high school team didn’t participate in many 7-on-7 camps because Josh and many of his teammates were busy playing baseball and other sports. He was the leading scorer on his basketball team and also pitched on the baseball team, reaching 90 mph with his fastball.”
Yahoo Sports writer Jeff Eisenberg added in another 2017 story:
“At a time when many scholarship-hungry families encourage their kids to specialize in one sport or to transfer to the school that will provide the most exposure, the Allens resisted both trends. They spurned overtures from more prominent Central Valley programs after Allen’s breakout junior season and kept him at Firebaugh, living by the family mantra that ‘you bloom where you’re planted.’ “
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Returning for a second to Firebaugh, where Allen grew up. The Mono and Yokuts peoples lived in Firebaugh for thousands of years before Spanish settlers arrived in the 1770s. The Firebaugh area was originally part of Mexico, becoming a part of the United States in 1846. During the California Gold Rush, Andrew Firebaugh started a ferry boat service helping people across the San Joaquin River. In 1857, he started a toll road, and a small community formed near it. It was named Firebaugh in his honor. People began moving to Firebaugh after it became a stagecoach station in the 1860s.
Firebaugh was incorporated as a city in 1914. It remained a small city focused on cattle and agriculture for much of the 20th century.
Traffic Passes an Almond Orchard in Firebaugh, California (2021)
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Through high school, Allen regularly worked on the family farm and at the restaurant his mother operated in Firebaugh. Allen was a member of the National FFA Organization through his local chapter at Firebaugh High School. FFA is a dynamic youth organization that changes lives and prepares members for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. The letters “FFA” stand for Future Farmers of America.
US Postage Stamp for FFA
FFA develops members’ potential and helps them discover their talent through hands-on experiences, which give members the tools to achieve real-world success. Members are future farmers, chemists, veterinarians, government officials, entrepreneurs, bankers, international business leaders, teachers and premier professionals in many career fields. It is one of the three components of agricultural education. Josh received numerous awards for his agricultural work and knowledge including a rank in the top four in the nation in diversified crop production of cantaloupe, cotton, and wheat in 2014.
There’s an interesting decade follow-up to Josh’s life in 2014.
It’s a story worth being told.
Inspirational. Much about this distance travelled. Sometimes, it’s an inner journey and not so apparent. Other times, it seems both an inward and outer journey as in the case of Josh Allen.
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Info on Josh from Wyoming Mining Association
After playing high school football, Allen led a Reedley Community College offense that averaged 452.2 yards of total offense per game to rank No. 9 among all California junior-college teams in total offense. Reedley averaged 285.3 passing yards per game to rank No. 7 among all California JCs, scored 39.4 points per game to rank No. 10 in the state and averaged 166.9 yards rushing to rank 26th. Individually, Allen’s 26 touchdown passes tied him for No. 7 among all California junior-college quarterbacks in 2014. He also ranked 20th among California JUCO quarterbacks in passing yards as a freshman, and ranked 42nd in the state in rushing, averaging 66.0 yards per game. He played for head coach Randy Whited at Reedley College. Allen played his high school football at Firebaugh High School in Firebaugh, Calif.
Career Accomplishments (FBS Totals at Wyoming): In his two seasons as the starting quarterback for the University of Wyoming, Josh Allen led the Wyoming Cowboys to two consecutive eight-win seasons, two consecutive bowl appearances and he concluded his college career with a 37-14 victory in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, earning Most Valuable Player honors for the bowl win. He was named the North Team Most Outstanding Player in the 2018 Senior Bowl, and participated in the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine. Over his Wyoming career, Allen accounted for 5,833 ya rds of total offense, including 5,066 passing yards and 767 rushing yards. He was responsible for 57 touchdowns forhis career (44 passing, 12 rushing and 1 receiving). He threw 44 touchdown passes vs. 21 interceptions. His combined record as a starter in 2016 and ‘17 was 16-9 for a 64.0 winning percentage. Wyoming was 8-6 in 2016 with Allen as the starter and was 8-3 in the 11 games Allen started in 2017. The junior missed the final two regular-season games of 2017 due to a right shoulder injury, but he returned to play a n outstanding game in Wyoming’s bowl victory. Graduated inDecember 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in social science.
2015: Allen saw action in two contests for the Pokes before suffering a season-ending injury. He earned his first career start against Eastern Michigan. Against Eastern Michigan, he was 3-of-4 passing for 32 yards. He also rushed for 40 yards on three carries with a career-long 24 yard rush. He also appeared in the season opener against North Dakota going 1-of-2 passing for 19 yards. For the season, Allen was 4-of-6 passing for 51 yards with three carries for 40 yards.
2016: Allen helped lead Wyoming to the 2016 Mountain Division title and a spot in the Mountain West Conference Championship Game. Wyoming hosted that championship game as the highest ranked team in the conference. The Cowboys went on to earn a berth in the 2016 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. He was a key player in Wyoming’s win over two Top 25 ranked teams in 2016, as the Cowboys also earned votes in the national polls. The Cowboy offense ranked No. 2 in the MW and No. 25 in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 35.9 points per game. Wyoming led the conference and ranked 22nd nationally in first downs (312). As a team, UW averaged 15.27 yards per pass completion to rank No. 3 in the MW and No. 8 in the NCAA. The Cowboys converted 90.6 percent of their red-zone opportunities into points to rank No. 2 in the league and No. 14 in the country. As a sophomore, Allen ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West and No. 6 nationally in passing yards per completion (15.33 yards). He also led the MW and was No. 16 in the country in points responsible for (218). Allen threw28 touchdown passes in 2016, placing him No. 1 in the conference and No. 20 in the NCAA.He was second in the MW and 32nd in the nation in passing yards (3,203). Allen was also No. 2 in conference and No. 40 in the nation in total offense (266.1 yards per game). His 3,203 passing yards in 2016 are the fifth best single-season total in Wyoming school history, and his 3,726 yards of total offense in a single season rank No. 3 in school history. His 36 touchdowns responsible for — passing (28), rushing (7) and receiving (1) — rank No. 2 in Wyoming history. Allen’s 28 passing TDs rank as the third best single season at Wyoming. He had five games of 300+ yards of total offense: 315 vs. Northern Illinois; 327 vs. Boise State; 327 vs. Utah State; 366 at UNLV; and 338 vs. San Diego State in the regular-season meeting between the two schools. His high passing game was a 334-yard effort at UNLV, his high rushing game was 74 yards vs. Air Force and his high total offense game was 366 at UNLV (334 passing and 32 rushing).
2017 (Junior): Allen displayed amazing leadership skills in helping guide a very young Wyoming offense to an 8-5 record, a second-place finish in the Mountain West Conference Mountain Division behind only Boise State and a bowl win in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Despite losing four All-Conference offensive performers to NFL rosters in 2017, including Wyoming’s career rushing leader, Allen’s top two receiving targets and his starting center, the junior QB found ways to win games for the Cowboys. Allen completed 152 of 270 passes (56.3 percent) for 1,812 yards as a junior. He threw 16 TD passes and only six interceptions in 2017. In his final four games of the ‘17 season, he threw 8 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions. He also added 5 rushing touchdowns his junior year, totalling 21 TDs Responsible For. In the bowl victory, Allen threw three first-quarter touchdown passes of 23 yards, 11 yards and 45 yards to help lead the Cowboys to the win over Central Michigan on way to game MVP honors. He completed 11 of 19 passes vs. CMU for 154 yards. Among his top games was a 5 touchdown performance (4 TD passes, 1 TD rushing) in a 42-3 win over New Mexico for which he was named Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Allen led the Cowboys on two late, game-winning drives during the 2017 season — one in overtime vs. Hawai’i and one in a come-from-behind win over rival Colorado State in the fourth quarter. The only three losses suffered by Wyoming in 2017 with Allen as the starter were to three bowl teams — on the road at Iowa, at home to Oregon and on the road at Boise State. Wyoming’s other two losses came with him out of the lineup due to injury. He guided a Cowboy offense that ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West and No. 2 in the nation in red-zone offense, scoring on 97.1 percent (33 of 34) of its red-zone opportunities. The Cowboys also ranked No. 19 in the nation in fewest turnovers lost — only 14 total turnovers lost. Allen was invited to and participated in the Manning Passing Academy in June of 2017. He also attended a special program approved by the NCAA for underclassmen at the 2017 NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis, Ind.
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For Those Who Want to Watch a 45 Minute Video About Firebaugh
Here, a silent video of drone shots over Firebaugh. But if you click on the menu in the video, you can go to certain sections of the video. Still, a long rabbit hole to pop into unless you don’t have better things to do. A harmless rabbit hole it seems to me. Drone shots over what lookes to be one of the most patriotic places in the nation. Firebaugh, California. A soothing journey. Much similar to watching Antiques Roadshow.