How Firebaugh Cultivated The Rise Of Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen



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The earth is flat here, as steadfast as a Johnny Unitas haircut, an endless quilt of farmland that produces cotton, wheat, grapes, melons and pistachios. Normally, on a given fall night, you can stand in one small town and see the glow of the soccer field in the next, from Kerman to Tranquility to Mendota; Firebaugh at Dos Palos in Los Banos.

Ribbons of two-lane roads and generations of bitter rivalry separate the farming communities of the San Joaquin Valley, where local sports rub shoulders with religion and high school heroes harden into tradition. Yet these days, those bendy towns feel like one, with everyone pulling in the same direction, the Hatfields proudly tying their arms to the McCoys.

Because this is Josh Allen’s country.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen looks to pass in an AFC win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen looks to pass in an AFC win over the Indianapolis Colts on Jan.9.

(Brett Carlsen / Associated Press)

Allen, the third-year Buffalo Bills quarterback, earned his team one Super Bowl victory and two when hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for the first time. The defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs host the Bills on Sunday in the AFC Championship game.

“People say Josh is a special kid,” said Bill Magnusson, his trainer at Firebaugh High. “You could say that a million times and it wouldn’t be enough.”

Even opponents from time to time swell their chest.

“I embrace this race he’s in,” said Beto Mejia, coach of archival Mendota Aztecs, who handed Firebaugh his only two losses in Allen’s senior season. “I can sit down and be like, ‘Man, I coached against this kid. … And if I get some excitement and pride in it, I can imagine his Firebaugh coaches, how excited they are.

Three of the remaining four quarterbacks in the NFL are from California – Tom Brady of Tampa Bay, Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay and Allen – the most outlier being Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City, who grew up in Texas.

In Firebaugh, excitement is palpable among locals who have watched Allen go from a nervous child – generously rated at 6ft 2, 180 pounds – to a 6-5, 237 pound bruiser reminiscent of John Elway with the ability to do damage with his arm and legs. At 24, Allen made a compelling case for Most Valuable Player, shattering Buffalo’s passing records along the way.

VIDEO | 00:59

Josh Allen is the only player to have his Firebaugh high school number removed

Alex Gutierrez, Josh Allen’s baseball coach and Firebaugh High School quarterbacks coach, talks about his number which was taken out by the school.

Alternating red and blue “Allen 17” banners will decorate O Street in the middle of Firebaugh this weekend. Allen’s extended family owns approximately 1,200 acres of farmland in the area, not including the land his late grandfather donated for the construction of the high school.

“Our community is quite a special place,” said Allen’s father, Joel. “We take care of each other.”

Joel and LaVonne Allen, who have two sons and two daughters, rarely miss any of Josh’s games. They fly around the country every fall weekend to see him play. But Joel won’t be at Sunday’s game as he is recovering from a serious case of pneumonia that took him to hospital this month.

VIDEO | 01:10

How Josh Allen fused wrestling skills with high school football

Alex Gutierrez, Josh Allen’s baseball coach and Firebaugh High School quarterbacks coach, explains how football players have used wrestling techniques to improve their game.

LaVonne makes the trip, along with a contingent of Firebaugh’s family and friends that includes Josh’s uncle, Todd Allen, among his most dedicated fans.

“Nobody works harder at their trade than Josh,” said Todd, sitting in the family farm office, wearing a Bills T-shirt and displaying a head of his nephew on his desk. “I don’t care what it is – baseball, basketball, football and he was a swimmer in the summer too. I can’t say enough about him.

Allen set Bills records for completions, passing yards and touchdowns, leading the team to a 13-3 record and their first AFC East title since 1995, the year before he was born. . Buffalo has won eight straight games and has a chance on Sunday for revenge for a 26-17 home loss to Kansas City in Week 6.

Josh Allen and his younger brother Jason, right, pull weeds in the Allen family's cotton field with Marcus Espinoza.

Josh Allen (in white) and his younger brother Jason, right, pull weeds in the Allen family’s cotton field with Marcus Espinoza, the quarterback who preceded Josh to Firebaugh High.

(Courtesy of the Allen family)

Todd Allen, uncle of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, looks at photos of his nephew.

Todd Allen, uncle of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, looks at photos of his nephew at the family ranch in Firebaugh, Calif.

(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)

“They showed two different things in defense, things we probably weren’t expecting,” Allen said this week of the Chiefs. “I think we have improved a lot since that game.”

Under the guidance of Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and the transformational tutelage of quarterback coach Jordan Palmer, Allen has made remarkable progress over his three seasons. His completion rate has dropped from 52.8% as a rookie to 69.2% this season. It’s the biggest two-year improvement in NFL history.

This is just the continuation of the stunning trajectory of a player who was snubbed by Fresno State, once his dream school, and took a more roundabout route to the pros via Reedley Community College and then the University of Wyoming. .

When the Bills made Allen the No.7 pick in the 2018 Draft, many people thought he was too brutal and too inaccurate to gain a foothold in the NFL and bring this franchise back to the forefront.

VIDEO | 01:23

A look at Farm Bills quarterback Josh Allen grew up

Josh Allen’s uncle, Todd Allen, talks about what Josh was doing at the family ranch in Firebaugh, California.

But Allen has the courage and determination forged on the farm, where he and his younger brother Jason cut weeds, dug ditches, moved irrigation pipes, and even plucked huge fields of cotton behind the wheel of tractors. of $ 350,000. While his family was at one end of the economic spectrum, Allen had plenty of friends and teammates at the other.

“Every summer you have half the football team training on the fields, and they do it to buy their school clothes and everything,” said Alex Gutierrez, who was quarterback for Allen and baseball coach at Firebaugh. “A lot of them, their parents are working hard, but they need help paying the bills. A lot of times there were passing league tournaments and his teammates were working, and Josh was the one driving and picking them up. He had the van and his truck was always full. He always had three teammates with him.

In the years that followed, Allen took the entire region on a different kind of journey, surreal.

“There’s a photo of Josh’s rookie year when he shook hands with Tom Brady, he hugged him after the game when they faced each other,” said Gutierrez, standing on the dirt road surrounding the Firebaugh football ground, where Allen retired # 15. is painted on the press box. “You see that and it’s like, wow, it’s really going on right now.”

VIDEO | 01:56

Former Firebaugh Mayor opens up about Josh Allen’s impact on the city

Brady Jenkins, former mayor of Firebaugh, Calif., And former coach of Allen, talks about the impact of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen on the city while growing up there.

Todd Allen has too many memories of his nephew to count. One in particular stands out. It happened at West Hills Community College in Coalinga, when a loose Josh was in Reedley and was just discovering his ability to crush defenders.

“His team were down 28-7 at halftime, and Josh made a comeback so fierce they almost won the game,” Todd recalled. “I just remember he started running in that game, and I’m like, ‘Where did that come from?’ He was running on the field and I was running with him along the stadium.

When people asked him what he was doing, Todd told them, “I’m running with Josh.”

Years later, the whole Central Valley can say the same.



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