Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen is projected to be one of the top signal-callers available in next year's draft. Depending on this year's outcome and the free-agent market in 2018, the San Francisco 49ers could be among the teams looking to select a franchise quarterback like Allen.
Allen is from Firebaugh, California, which is a town with a population of 8,300 and sits about two hours away from Santa Clara. His high school has produced just one FBS prospect in its history. Allen wasn't heavily recruited and Fresno State considered him as a walk-on but nothing ever came of that. The quarterback decided to play football at Reedley College – a junior college – for a year before transferring to Wyoming. During his time with the Cowboys, Allen has taken advantage of every opportunity presented to him and has finally been noticed.
Right now, Allen is focused on the Cowboys' season-opening test against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. However, once the 2017 college football season is over, his focus will shift toward marketing himself to NFL franchises.
Allen joined Adam Schefter's latest podcast and was asked what his ideal situation would be when he enters the NFL. It turns out, the quarterback is a fan of the 49ers.
"I grew up a Niners fan," Allen said. "It's about two, two-and-a-half hours from my hometown so it would be easy for my family to commute there. Obviously, they have a long, storied tradition of great quarterbacks with Steve Young, Joe Montana. That's my favorite team and it would be kind of a dream come true to play for them because, growing up, I had a little book with my picture ... there's a face hole and it was the 49ers. You could go find that book and kind of compare it to what could happen next year and that would just be really cool."
While the 49ers might be the ideal situation for Allen, there is always the possibility that he ends up elsewhere and possibly someplace that is far from his home state. It doesn't matter to Allen, who just wants an opportunity to be in the NFL.
"I'm a football player and I love football," Allen said. "Wherever I get the opportunity to go play, that's what I'm going to go do. I hope I'm helping a program and a franchise in any way possible. I want to be able to come in right away and be the man and start winning games."
Allen passed for 3,203 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions with the Cowboys last season and ran for another 523 yards and seven scores. In 2016, the 6-foot-5, 233-pound quarterback guided Wyoming to the top of the Mountain Division in the Mountain West.