Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen was one of the most polarizing prospects in the 2018 NFL draft class, with believers touting his rare arm talent and worthiness of the No. 1 overall pick, to doubters wondering if he should be taken in the first round at all.

As for Wyoming offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brent Vigen, you can count him among Allen’s most staunch supporters.

Vigen recently spoke exclusively with Draft Wire about Allen’s development over this three years in Laramie, where his star pupil needs to improve, why the Buffalo Bills were the perfect situation, and why Allen can ultimately live up to the hype of being a top-10 pick.

JM: At what point did you realize Josh Allen was different than some of the other quarterbacks you’ve coached?

BV: I think pretty early on we knew we had something unique, as far as his throwing ability went. During those first seven or eight months, we started to see his athletic ability catch up to his arm talent. We ended up playing him in our second game his first year. I felt like going into that game, he had an opportunity, if things went well. He was replacing a senior who had fought him off for the starting job during fall camp. We knew if things went well with Josh, that was going to be the last we saw of that senior.

It started out spectacular. We scored our first drive. We had really struggled as an offense that first week. This is our second year as a coaching staff so we were still very much on our way but things just looked differently with Josh out there. He lead us all the way down the field his second drive and then he gets hurt. As that week was unfolding and we knew he was gonna be out there, I felt he was different. He has some special talents. I think his injury that year probably helped him out in the long run. I think it made him appreciate things a little bit more. It got him in the weight room more. When he came out of it on the other side, his physical development was significant.

By the time he played regularly during the 2016 season, that was when it probably became more apparent gradually to the general public, but as he was getting ready to play that first year in 2015, I felt like there was a real chance for him to be special.

JM: You’ve worked very closely with him for a number of years now. He’s had his fair share of ups and downs as a player. How do you feel he grew during his time at Wyoming?

BV: I would say he grew in every which way. When he arrived here, he was about 205 pounds. He was probably still 6-foot-4. He grew physically. That was significant, because he’s about 240 pounds now. He hadn’t really found himself in the weight room before he got to Wyoming. Once he got more comfortable in there, it made a significant impact on his physical ability. Mentally, having played just one season in junior college, that was small-school ball in California. His baseline for what they did wasn’t very significant. His understanding of the game and the nuances of both offense and defense, those ideas in his mind really grew in his time here.

I would say maturity-wise, as well, but that’s probably the same for all our guys. You just see them through that phase of life where they mature and start to figure things out. I think it was a great benefit in a lot of ways for Josh coming back for an additional season. I think the biggest thing was maturity. It was about having to deal with the expectations that were placed upon him from the early part of last year. It doesn’t always go as planned, but you learn how to deal with those things. I would say that he grew a tremendous amount physically, mentally and emotionally throughout his three years at Wyoming.

JM: How would you describe his work ethic?

BV: I think he has an excellent work ethic. He comes from a farm family, which I know has been well-documented. It’s not like he wasn’t allowed to play sports. I, myself come from a small town, a farming community, and sometimes those kids had to make choices between working on the farm or playing sports. That wasn’t the case for Josh. I think the example of hard work being laid down by his parents translated over to him. I think he understands the value of hard work. That’s how he gained the respect of his teammates at Wyoming. That’s why he was named a captain as a sophomore. It’s because of the way he worked. That’s not always the case for quarterbacks. Quarterbacks sometime see themselves on a different pedestal but that wasn’t the case with Josh. He worked his tail off.

JM: So you feel like his teammates respected him and rallied around him?

BV: I think it starts with his personality. He has a very engaging personality. He’s a fun-loving guy. Whether he played quarterback or any other position, he’d be a popular guy in our locker room. That’s just his nature. When you’re that way and everybody feels like they can relate to you, and you work as hard as Josh works, and you improve the way he did by showing the commitment that he showed over the years, it’s easy for guys to gravitate towards you. What happened during his 2016 season was that his play put him on another level. I think guys saw his willingness to do whatever it took on the field. The spectacular plays that he made and the toughness that he showed at times, the competitiveness, the never-say-die mentality, all that stuff really cemented it beyond what he did in the off-season.

JM: At this point in time, which aspects of his game would you say are the most developed?

BV: He’s a natural passer. Some kids just pick up a football and it comes naturally to them. They don’t have to be coached from a young age. As youngsters, they don’t have to go to a quarterback camp or anything like that. For Josh, he’s been throwing the football since he was a kid. Footwork-wise, that’s another piece. I think his upper body mechanics are something to behold. From a physical development standpoint, you don’t have to put any weight on him. Right now, the Buffalo Bills’ strength and conditioning coaches aren’t talking about having to beef him up. He’s very physically developed.

His understanding of a fairly sophisticated offense that we ran at Wyoming is there. There’s not gonna be this dramatic shift for him. He can speak the language. He can recite a play. He can make decisions at the line of scrimmage. These are all things he’s already done. For some kids who go from college to the pros, that’s a transition for them. He is not perfect by any means, but he’s already been exposed to a lot of things. I don’t think the transition is gonna be great as a lot of people out there seem to think.

JM: What is your take on his footwork, and where it is today?

BV: I think his footwork is fine. I think how pressure affects him and what that does to his footwork at times is something that he’ll have to continue to work on. He made really good strides from his sophomore year to his junior year with us. As a sophomore, I thought he let his feet get away from him a little bit when he felt the pressure. I think that happened unconsciously at times. He was trying to catch up to his arm. That didn’t happen nearly as much this past year. I know he’s worked exceptionally hard from January on to continue to correct that. He has the ability to self-correct. He’s now a little more conscious of how it all fits together. When you make the jump from college to the NFL, you naturally listen to the criticism a little more.

You can get away with some things in college that you can’t get away with in the NFL. I think he has the basis for his footwork to become everything it needs to be. He’s good enough of an athlete back there where trusting the pocket is something he has to continue to do. He did a better job of that for us this year. We weren’t as good up front this year. The pocket wasn’t always as stable as I would have liked it to be. I think he made strides there and will continue to do so. He understands how everything works together. He didn’t understand that three or four years ago. His understanding grew in his time with us and I think it’s been amplified over the past three or four months.

JM: You mentioned that he worked out of a fairly sophisticated offense. How empowered was he to make checks at the line of scrimmage?

BV: Very much so. Everything was on his shoulders in the protection game. I’d much rather have a guy out on the field who understands how the defense is affecting him rather than him feeling like he has to completely react after the snap. He was in control of the protection side of things. In the run game, we had him making checks. I’m talking run-to-run checks, sometimes it was run-to-pass or pass-to-run. He’s been exposed to all of that. Sometimes, it was based on numbers. Other times, it was based on specific looks.

I don’t think there’s anything from an NFL decision-making standpoint at the line of scrimmage that’s gonna be foreign to him. The volume at which he might be asked to do a few of those things might be greater, but I don’t think there’s gonna be anything that’ll be an entirely new concept for him.

JM: Where do you feel he’s at with his processing skills and decision-making?

BV: I think he’s in a good place to make this transition. His improvement in his three years with us was significant. The attention to detail and what I’d call the pure consumption of the details will continue to grow as it should when this is becoming your job. He’s a guy that enjoys football and all the things that come with it. That obviously contributes to how much a guy understands and how much he’s willing to put into it.

I think he’s in a good place. The foundation has certainly been laid down. From all I could gather in talking with him over the last little bit, he’s certainly enjoyed the time he’s spent with the Buffalo Bills’ coaching staff. I think that’s very important. He’s really eager to get to work with them. He feels like they can continue to make him better.

JM: How did he respond to your coaching? Would you describe him as a “coachable” guy?

BV: He’s very coachable. Coming into our situation, I don’t think he had been coached in the details a whole lot. He kinda ate that up. I’ve enjoyed that part of it. He doesn’t think he has all the answers, by any means. He takes to coaching, and he’s a smart kid. From an intelligence standpoint, you don’t feel like you have to limit what you’re trying to teach him. I know he’s realized this dream of getting an opportunity to play in the NFL, but I know he doesn’t want this to be the highlight of his career. He wants to be great. I trust that he understands that it’s gonna take every bit of his ability to realize that dream.

JM: Do you have any examples or anecdotes you can share regarding his leadership style?

BV: It starts with his winning mentality. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. I don’t know that I have one specific example but this year, we had to transform ourselves. We maybe didn’t have the weapons that we had the year before. As we moved into the season, he knew that it wasn’t gonna look the same statistically as it did the year before. I told him that the only stat that ultimately matters is us winning ball games. We all knew that we were gonna have to do that a little bit differently. I think him accepting that part of it while knowing what was on the line for him individually was a great example for all our players. He had this golden ticket at the end of this season. Whether we won X amount of games or not, he was gonna have an opportunity at the next level.

The unselfishness that he showed on a weekly basis says a lot about his character. That’s the mark of a great leader. He was willing to squeeze out everything he could for us. We were 8-3 when he played and if he plays all our games, I’d like to think we would have been 10-3. And the 3 games we lost, Iowa, Oregon and Boise State, they were all games we’d love to have back, but that’s football. We moved on from all those games and found a way to get better. I don’t know if that answers your question or not. I think his attitude about winning is his greatest trait when it comes to leading.

JM: How good do you think he can be if he reaches his full potential?

BV: That’s difficult to predict. So much of that has to do with the things around you. I’ll say this: I wouldn’t put any limitation on his physical ability. His physical ability will allow him to be as great as he wants to be. I think the type of teammate he is doesn’t inhibit him, either. The sky’s the limit. I don’t know how fast that’s gonna happen. I know that he believes in the situation that he’s in with Buffalo, and they obviously believe in him, as well. That’s a great starting point. I’m very intrigued to see how this all play out. I think he has, as all these people would say, a very high ceiling. I think it’ll happen for him a little bit sooner than people think.

JM: Those who aren’t as high on him point to his career completion percentage of 56.2. They’ll say it’s hard to find successful pro quarterbacks that were under 60 percent in college. What’s your take on that?

BV: Numbers are numbers, and his completion percentage number did not improve from one year to the next. I know that I saw a marked improvement on his ball placement and decision-making. You can go through every single one of these quarterbacks that were just drafted and put together a low-light reel. You really could. That’s just football. That’s playing the quarterback position, the toughest position to play in all of sports. I’ve seen all the low-light reels, and those plays frustrate me. Each one of those plays has a story. It’s not always about what Josh Allen did wrong. He wasn’t perfect, like I said. I think completion percentage is a lot of times a function of your offense. Albeit, we had a first-round quarterback, but we underachieved as an offense. That’s not all on him. He has to bare the brunt of the criticism for that completion percentage.

We ran the ball for 108 yards per game compared to 207 the year before. I haven’t heard anyone talk about how that effected Josh’s completion percentage, but I can tell you that had a huge impact on our passing game. I haven’t heard that from one person. Nobody talks about how our dip in production effected his completion percentage. It is what it is. I know he has the capability to be an accurate passer. I’m not concerned about that. It’s an easy target. I think it’s easy to point at. He played at a Group of 5 school versus lesser competition, and he didn’t shine in the games against the Power 5, but there’s more to the story than that. He has to prove it. I think we all understand that. I would say that I’m fully confident that he can prove all his doubters wrong.

JM: How do you think he’ll handle the situation in Buffalo? There’s a lot of factors in play. They just had their first playoff berth in nearly two decades, and the fan base is hungry for more success. He could be entering a bit of a quarterback competition with AJ McCarron. There’s also the cold weather. How do you think he responds?

BV: I think it’s a good situation. The make up of the Buffalo Bills is that of a very passionate fan base. Football really matters to that city and it’s fans. They’re kind of seen as the underdog in a lot of ways. I think there’s definitely some translation for him to feel at home after spending time at Wyoming and coming from a small town in California. I think the elements of the weather you alluded to, even though he’s a California kid, he’s spent the last three years in Laramie, Wyoming. He’s kind of seen it all and played in it all. He’s played in rain, he’s played in snow, he’s played in wind. I suspect all of those things are prominent in Buffalo, from what I’ve heard (laughs).

Regarding their quarterback situation, Josh is a competitor. I don’t think he feels like he’s entitled to anything, despite being an early draft pick. He understands that he needs to go to work. I think he’ll be challenged by McCarron and Peterman. He’ll soak in the things that he can learn from them, because they’ve played in this league. He’s a good teammate. He was always good in our quarterback room. All three years, the dynamics changed a little bit for us each year. He was never a selfish guy. That’s something I always look at. It’s easy for quarterbacks to be selfish because only one of them is gonna play, but ultimately, the best ones are gracious teammates, as well.

I think Buffalo is an ideal situation for him, from all I could gather from my point of view. I was happy to see him end up there. I think each situation had their highs and lows, but at the end of the day, I felt Buffalo was the best situation for him.

JM: From what you’ve seen, how would you compare him to Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen or Sam Darnold? Do you feel Josh should have been drafted No. 1 overall?

BV: I don’t know. Each team has what they’re looking for. Each of these guys comes from a different situation. I thought they were all worthy candidates. Obviously, we believed in our guy. We felt like his upside is as high as anyone’s. I don’t think it’s fair for me to judge. I’d be falling in line with everyone else who probably didn’t know enough about each situation, to be honest (laughs). That’s the hard part. If you believe everything you hear about any one of those guys, you’re probably making a shortsighted judgment.

The only other guy I’ve really been around for any length of time was Sam Darnold. Josh and I happened to be with Sam at an awards ceremony last year in Columbus, Ohio. All I could really say was that I walked away from that thinking Sam was a really good dude. He’s a great person. I had a chance to meet his family. Him and Josh lived and trained together. They hit it off really well. He’s the only other guy I could make a judgment on, based off his character.

I thought Josh was worthy of being in the conversation at No. 1 overall. However it unfolded, I think they probably all ended up exactly where they should have.

JM: Going forward, how do you and the Wyoming program handle the loss of Josh in 2018 and beyond?

BV: You appreciate what Josh brought to our program from a competitiveness standpoint. The exposure for us that has gone along with all his success is appreciated. I’ve heard him say that you always want to leave a place better than you found it, and I think he certainly did that. The challenge is that we have to continue to have that idea. Outside of him, we didn’t lose a lot of guys. We’re getting back to work with a lot of guys that just need to continue to get better around whoever we put at the quarterback position. I know we can’t be as quarterback-dependent next season as we were this season.

Our program is in a different position now. We have a very strong defense. I’ve alluded to the fact that we didn’t run the ball as well last year as we would have liked to. That has to be a priority going forward. That could take a lot of pressure off whoever’s playing quarterback. Football is still a team game. It’s not a game where one guy’s impact can be so significant that he can’t be replaced. There’s a lot of different pieces to the puzzle. We return so many guys that can continue to take Cowboys football to greater heights.