Josh Allen’s college coach: ‘He does need to improve his accuracy’

Craig Bohl knows a little something about the qualities necessary for a college quarterback to make a successful transition into the NFL.

After all, Bohl was the one who recruited Carson Wentz, who played a major role in the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl run, to North Dakota State.

‘Certainly, I know he’s been criticized for his accuracy and the completion percentage’

For the past three years at Wyoming, Bohl has had the pleasure of coaching another quarterback who, like Wentz, is considered among the top prospects in the NFL Draft: Josh Allen. Bohl sees the many qualities that have coaches and general managers excited about what Allen can bring to the next level, beginning with tremendous arm strength (“He can make some throws and you’ll literally hear the ball”). But he also recognizes what is seen as the largest flaw in his game.

“Certainly, I know he’s been criticized for his accuracy and the completion percentage,” Bohl told Zig Fracassi and Vic Carucci on NFL Rewind. “And I think you can justify some of things with the completion percentages with just some of the nuances with a whole group of receivers and things like that. But he does need to improve his accuracy.”

‘We ran a pro-style system, which allowed the route trees and some of the nomenclature and how he handles the huddle is going to be a real smooth transition for him’

Bohl believes that that will get better once Allen is in the NFL. He also doesn’t see it overshadowing the qualities that should make him stand out among other quarterbacks in the Class of 2018.

“Some of it is he was in a system, which we ran a pro-style system, which allowed the route trees and some of the nomenclature and how he handles the huddle is going to be a real smooth transition for him,” Bohl said. “But I think he’s going to continue to improve there. And I look at the numbers (including Allen’s career completion percentage of 56.2). You would want a guy that’s in the high 60 percent completion percentage. But I can tell you this: I’ve never seen a guy that can run sideways to his right or to his left and throw a dart to the back of the end zone and be right on target.

‘You can improve the accuracy, we can improve his footwork, certainly, but you can’t improve that arm strength’

“You can improve the accuracy, we can improve his footwork, certainly, but you can’t improve that arm strength. That’s something that God has blessed him with and he’s developed even more.”

That, in Bohl’s view, puts Allen in a special place with some of the greats he has seen during his coaching career.

‘I’ve never seen a guy who has the arm strength to be able to make you cover the whole field on defense like Josh does’

“I’ve coached 35 years on the collegiate level, never at the NFL, but I’ve had an opportunity to coach against what I would consider all the great ones from Peyton Manning on down,” Bohl said. “I’ve never seen a guy who has the arm strength to be able to make you cover the whole field on defense like Josh does, and as a result of that, I think that’s going to put him in a different position than almost any other quarterback out there. His arm strength is unique.”