New NFL QB Sensation Gardner Minshew: 'I Can Have Hope Through Jesus'
On Sunday, Gardner Minshew will become the second member of the 2019 quarterback draft class to start a regular-season NFL game.
Twelve months ago, that would have seemed like a total impossibility.
While Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins had NFL teams and media pundits drooling, Minshew was just trying to fit in with a new team.
Minshew had arrived at Washington State University in 2018 as a graduate transfer whose path there had been a winding one, dotted with more downs than ups.
After not receiving a single Division I scholarship offer coming out of high school, the Mississippi native settled for Troy University in Alabama. When it became apparent that playing time would be hard to come by at Troy, he transferred to Northwest Mississippi Community College before eventually landing at East Carolina University.
Minshew’s time at ECU included a pair of 3-9 seasons and came to an end with him being booed off the field and losing his starting job.
“My career seemed to be going in the wrong direction,” he wrote in an article for Athletes for God earlier this year.
“It was around that time one of my old high school principals sent me the verse Galatians 6:9, which says ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up,'” Minshew continued.
“Getting that verse at that time was just a Godsend, and the timing could not have been any better,” he wrote.
Minshew would go on to have an electric 2018 season at Washington State while playing in Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. His 38 touchdowns and 4,779 yards through the air helped the Cougars to an 11-2 season and earned him the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation’s top senior quarterback.
“God is so good,” Minshew said when he won the award.
Very honored to win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award! God is so good! #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/boNcCaEoMQ
— Gardner Minshew (@GardnerMinshew5) December 3, 2018
But this wasn’t the only time he has been open about his Christian faith.
It’s incredible what starts to happen when you submit yourself to God’s will. His plan is so much better than anything I could imagine!
— Gardner Minshew (@GardnerMinshew5) March 19, 2018
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
— Gardner Minshew (@GardnerMinshew5) February 27, 2015
I am so unworthy of salvation, but I am so thankful that I can have hope through Jesus!
— Gardner Minshew (@GardnerMinshew5) March 26, 2017
Minshew’s impressive senior season caught the eye of NFL scouts, and the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted him in the sixth round. Still, it wasn’t expected that he would see significant playing time this early in his NFL career.
But Nick Foles’ broken collarbone means that Minshew is likely to be at the helm for at least the first half of the Jags’ season.
After putting up eye-popping numbers in Week 1 relief duty — he completed 22 of 25 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns in Jacksonville’s 40-26 loss to Kansas City — there is plenty of hype surrounding the rookie.
Whether he delivers or not remains to be seen, but he’s clearly prepared for whatever happens this season.
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