Wyoming's Josh Allen adapts to life after Tanner Gentry

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - Josh Allen has never been shy about being a Tanner Gentry fan. In 2016, Allen showed a penchant for finding the senior receiver, as the two connected for 1,326 yards on 72 completions.

When Gentry was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent, Allen made sure to buy a Gentry jersey. Gentry tipped off his ex-quarterback that he would be switching from number 83 to 19 and Allen made one online.

"I was the first one to buy one," Allen said. "I had to customize it. That's my boy. I can't be more excited for him."

Gentry has turned heads in camp with the Bears, often taking passes from Mitchell Trubisky, the third overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. That was the spot some thought Allen might have been chosen had he not changed his mind about entering the draft.

So has Allen ever asked Gentry how he stacks up with the North Carolina product?

"No comment," Allen said with a big smile. "Yes, I have."

He declined to say what Gentry's response was, but Gentry himself was asked how the two compare, especially when it comes to leadership.

"I think pretty much the same," he said. "Those guys both have the 'it' factor that you're looking for in a first-round guy. Josh asks me all the time how he compares to Mitch in certain aspects, and yeah, they're both great."

Allen's leadership will be all the more important in 2017 without Gentry to target.

"I think Josh has done a good job," Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl said. "He's thrown a lot to our receivers during the course of the summer. So there was no doubt a relationship with Tanner and Josh that they had, and I want to applaud Josh, because it isn't like he's walking around and he keeps on lamenting, 'Oh, I don't have Tanner.'

"We've got a whole host of younger receivers that have made plays, and he's embraced those guys."

In addition to Gentry, the Cowboys lost their second- and third-leading receivers from 2016, wide receiver Jake Maulhardt and tight end Jacob Hollister, who had a breakout debut this preseason with the New England Patriots.

Stepping in are C.J. Johnson, who had 304 receiving yards and three touchdowns as a redshirt freshman last year; James Price, who has played in 25 games for the Cowboys; and Austin Conway, who was a utility weapon for the Cowboys in his first season since converting from point guard to receiver.

"It's a different group," wide receivers coach Mike Grant told the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/2x80r08). "I think losing Jake and Tanner left a hole, but these guys are really young and eager and willing to learn and kind of really focusing on taking that next step for us."

Price has stepped forward as the leader of the group.

"He's really ... the most mature of the young men in the room," Grant said. "(He) has kind of taken that role upon himself and really has worked with them all summer with teaching and calling his own meetings in there and working with those guys. So I know what he can do, and he's been in the game for the past two years doing things. So he's very capable of being the playmaker that we're looking for."

Price already liked to speak up, he said, but he has become even more of a vocal leader with Gentry and Maulhardt gone.

"I don't want to take anything away from them, but we make it our personal goal in the wide receiver room to be better than last year," Price said. "We had a lot of success last year, but there were also a lot of downfalls and we didn't finish out the season how we wanted to, and I think as far as playmaking ability, that's something that we want to take a lot of pride in going into next season."

One area in particular where Gentry will be missed is on scramble plays, where Allen churned out highlight after highlight last season, almost always with Gentry on the back end.

"If there's a breakdown in the protection, we try to work on our scramble drill as much as possible," Price said. "But I think what happened last year with him and Tanner was kind of on the fly, most of the time, and that was just tremendous playmaking ability by both of them."

The receivers are more excited than anxious, though, about being the primary targets for one of the top NFL Draft prospects in the country.

"It's like a once in a lifetime thing, and you just want to go out there and do your best," Johnson said. "Because, I mean, you've got the best quarterback, so why not go out and perform to the best of your ability?"

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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com