Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew had a dream season in 2018. He totaled over 4700 yards passing with 38 touchdowns while completing over 70 percent of his passes.
The Jaguars took notice and drafted Minshew in the sixth round of last week’s NFL draft.
Minshew joined “XL Primetime” to talk about his draft experience.
“It was an awesome feeling,” Minshew told 1010XL when asked about hearing the Jags were selecting him. “Honestly, I was trying to keep my mind off of the draft and not let it drive me crazy. I was playing a little cornhole with some of my buddies and my sister brought me the phone and I saw it was a Jacksonville number and I was fired up. It was a feeling like no other.”
Minshew was asked what interaction with the Jaguars he had in the pre-draft process.
“I had a formal meeting with them at the combine and I felt really good about it,” Minshew said. “It’s one of those things where you forget because you talk to other people more recently, but I felt really good coming out of that meeting, it had just been a while since I had really talked to them in depth, but I guess it was enough to make them want to pull the trigger.”
The scouting report on Minshew is that he is a gym rat and student of the game, but does not have an NFL-caliber arm.
“All the knocks on me are some of the physical things that I have no control over,” Minshew said. “All I know is everything I can control, I’m going to do everything I can to be the best at.
“As far as studying the game, knowing the game plan, being the most prepared, the hardest working, being the best leader I can be, all those are things I can control and I can provide for a team.”
What was Minshew’s one season at Washington State like, a season which ended with an 11-2 record and Top 15 national ranking?
“It was incredible,” Minshew said. “This time last year I was living at home. I had just decided to go to Washington State, in fact I don’t know if I had even been on a visit yet.
“For how all that went down and the season that we had, it couldn’t have gone much better.”
Finally, Minshew was asked about being able to come to Jacksonville and learn from a Super Bowl MVP in Nick Foles.
“I am so excited because he has so much experience being in the league and his experiences have been both up and down,” Minshew said. “Just to be able to lean on him for advice and to be able to pick up anything I can from a guy that has done it well for so long.”
Minshew and the rest of the Jaguar rookie class will be in Jacksonville on May 9, to participate in rookie mini-camp.
