After the Nick Foles injury that devastated Jaguars fans, a sliver of hope remained with Gardner Minshew and has now blossomed into a nationwide love for the sixth round rookie quarterback out of Washington State University. 

Minshew has had a very unusual route to the NFL as he attended four schools in five years on his way to professional football. He was initially committed to The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to play football, but UAB’s football program discontinued. And after failing to walk-on at Troy, he attended Northwest Mississippi Community College. 

He excelled at the junior college level and transferred to East Carolina the following year. He played there for two years, and as a graduate transfer, he planned to be a backup at Alabama, where he would begin graduate coaching that could pan into an official coaching career.

Instead, Mike Leach, the head coach at Washington State, offered him the starting position for his ball club, and Minshew led the NCAA in passing under Mike Leach’s dynamic offense.

After three productive weeks in the NFL and a great underdog story for the country to get behind, “Minshew Mania” has taken the country by storm. His “offbeat” attitude and interesting actions including cutting his own jorts have created a love for him by the whole nation and it was expanded as Minshew has led the Jaguars to his first win as an NFL player. 

Jaguars fans have been given hope by the national phenomenon known as Gardner Minshew, and the hope is that he will continue to lead the Jaguars to more wins this season.

Image courtesy of Craig O’Neal.