The Jacksonville Jaguars choose quarterback Gardner Minshew from Washigton State in the Sixth Round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Minshew was the 178th pick overall. Quarterback Gardner Minshew out of Washigton State is the Sixth Round pick for the Jags... @A_Train_92 , wasn't he your favorite guy at the @seniorbowl ? — Marcel Robinson (@MarcelASJax) April 27, 2019 Gardner Minshew was a graduate transfer to Washington State University in 2018 where he played quarterback, the Jacksonville Jaguars said. Minshew is 22 years old, is 6-feet and 1 inch tall and weighs 225 pounds, according to the Jaguars. 2019 NFL Draft: Jacksonville Jaguars ready for day 3 of NFL Draft The Jaguars said that Minshew originally played for East Carolina before transfering to Washington State University. At Washington State, Minshew completed 468 of 662 passes for 4,776 yards and 38 touchdowns with nine interceptions this past season, according to the Jaguars. The Jaguars said, "He won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation’s top senior or fourth-year quarterback and was the Pac 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2018. He also was fifth in the 2018 Heisman Trophy voting." INSTANT ANALYSIS: J.P. Shadrick, Brian Sexton and John Oehser breakdown the selection of QB Gardner Minshew with the 178th overall pick of the NFL Draft. Draft coverage presented by @LycamobileUSA | #DUUUVAL https://t.co/2TryRnuYHl — #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) April 27, 2019 DOWNLOAD the Action News Jax app | Enable "Jaguars" notifications in the app settings to be alerted whenever the team picks this weekend MORE: 2019 NFL draft: What time, what channel, livestream, draft order | 5 players the Jacksonville Jaguars might draft | Photos: Jaguars players picked in the first round of the NFL Draft | Looking back at the Jacksonville Jaguars' draft hits and busts TRENDING: Cox Media Group<doc-sep>Good morning Coug fans. As you probably know by now, rounds two and three of the NFL Draft are finished, and nobody got on stage and said the words “Washington State.” That means Gardner Minshew II and James Williams—as expected—have to stick it out for one more day before hearing their NFL fate. After Andre Dillard went in the first round (more on that below), Minshew and Williams are the only other Cougs with a shot at being drafted. Some other Cougs might get a free agent opportunity, but we won’t know that until after the draft when the bidding takes place. As for Minshew and Williams, it’s anyone’s guess as to when they might hear their name today—if at all (oh no!). I’ll let CougFan explain where each player stands in the various mock drafts and player rankings. Anyway, here’s to hoping both hear their names today, and guys like Peyton Pelluer and Logan Tago get a free agent opportunity somewhere. Andre Dillard Lots of news about Dillard, both locally and in eastern Pennsylvania. But first, this: Man that’s great. Andre Dillard taken 22nd by Philadelphia, becoming first Washington State OL to go in first round of NFL Draft | The Spokesman-Review In a spiffy maroon suit, with a Washington State lapel pin fastened to the left side of his chest, Andre Dillard walked up to the stage in Nashville, cordially greeted Commissioner Roger Goodell with a handshake, slipped the Philadelphia Eagles hat over his head and posed with the midnight green jersey he’ll be wearing this fall. Grading the Eagles' selection of Andre Dillard | PhillyVoice In the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Andre Dillard. Now that some time has passed and we've all had a chance to digest the pick, here are some thoughts on the Eagles' future at left tackle. Newest Eagle Andre Dillard looking forward to learning from Jason Peters | NBC Sports Philadelphia John Clark caught up with Andre Dillard after the Eagles selected the tackle out of Washington State by trading up three spots in the first round. Eagles get 'best pass blocker in the draft' in Andre Dillard | NBC Sports Philadelphia Barrett Brooks breaks down the Eagles' first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, OL Andre Dillard out of Washington State. Andre Dillard: Looking back at the college career of the Eagles’ first round pick - Bleeding Green Nation The Eagles got an elite pass blocker in the making. NFL Draft Grades 2019: Eagles earn positive reviews for selecting Andre Dillard - Bleeding Green Nation What they’re saying about Philly Dilly. Football 2019 NFL Draft picks: High school recruiting star rankings for first-round selections - CBSSports.com Eighteen of the 32 first round picks were four- or five-star prospects as recruits. Sean Clifford, Garrett Wilson top college football spring risers | SI.com Mike Leach is in search of a new quarterback after losing Gardner Minshew, and he was facing a muddled field going into spring ball. Baseball Ouch. Final from Corvallis, Cougs drop series-opener at No. 2 OSU 18-4 — Washington State Baseball (@Cougbaseball) April 27, 2019 Cougar Fall To No. 2 Oregon State in Series-Opener - Washington State University Athletics The series continues Saturday at 1:35 p.m.<doc-sep>BRANDON, Miss. – From this charmer of a suburb in Central Mississippi, almost every highway out of town leads you to some large college football outpost. There’s LSU and there’s Alabama, both reachable in less than three hours. Another 1 1/2 hours on the road gets you to Auburn. Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas are each longer treks, but still manageable for the dedicated road-tripper. Within the state of Mississippi, Ole Miss is fairly close in proximity and Mississippi State is closer. The point being, Brandon, Mississippi, is supposed to be SEC country. So watching a school from the Pac-12 North infiltrate the pecking order last football season had to be unfamiliar and unprecedented – awkward and wholly gratifying – for the southern community of 23,000. Washington State quickly climbed onto the college football totem pole in Brandon, at times usurping the Crimson Tide and the Tigers (both Tigers) in television ratings, and constantly matching the Rebels and the Bulldogs in general popularity and fanfare. When WSU’s brutally late Pac-12 kickoffs kept the team’s quarterback up after hours last season, thousands of Gardner Minshew’s town folk back home stayed up with him. Curfews became optional when the Cougars were slated to play on national television, and Brandon churchgoers neglected their Sunday obligations if Minshew’s games bled into the early hours of the next morning – and they often did. “One time I fell asleep then woke back up and finished watching it,” said Trey Rein, principal at Brandon Middle School. “I think in (Brandon High Principal) Dr. (Bryan) Marshall’s quotes, I think he made one of the papers earlier in the year saying, ‘There were a lot of people that were late for church. Maybe went to the late service a few times.’ ” If Minshew was a cult hero in Pullman, whatever depiction transcends that one is how the WSU quarterback might be perceived back home in Brandon. ♦ ♦ ♦ When Gardner Minshew played football for Brandon High School, his team team played at this tiny field at Brandon Middle School seen on Monday, January 21, 2019, at in Brandon, Miss. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review) ♦ ♦ ♦ Many of the other NFL hopefuls that hope to hear their names called in this week’s draft have been celebrated some way or another, but few of them had their college games streamed on the jumbotrons at their high school stadium, as Minshew’s were last year – twice – following Brandon Bulldog games. After Brandon High’s homecoming win, Marshall had video technicians patch in the ESPN broadcast of WSU’s game at USC. He and a variety of coaches, administrators and fans stuck around after to watch. When it was time to migrate inside to monitor the homecoming dance, they projected the game onto a large cafeteria screen. “So, I don’t know how much of the dance I saw,” Marshall said, “but I saw a lot of the USC game.” As Minshew’s fashion statements became trendy in Pullman, the look’s popularity had already skyrocketed in Brandon. Two separate dress-up days at Brandon Middle School – a “QB throwback day” and a “college day” – evoked dozens of young Minshew lookalikes wearing white headbands, mirrored aviator rims and stick-on mustaches. “There was never going to be a week where there wasn’t some kind of mustache,” Rein said. “… Ten months ago, I’m not sure if people here knew Washington State had a football team. And now all the sporting places around here, they struggle to keep in jerseys.” Tinges of crimson – Wazzu crimson, not ’Bama crimson – were visible throughout town all season. Steven Wallace, a family friend, hung the Ol’ Crimson flag on a pole in front of his Brandon insurance agency. At least two other local businesses had WSU mementos hanging up. “Even our rivals, everybody keeps up,” Rein said. “You sit there and you’re seeing Mississippi and all the social media and all the coaches around the state. They’re just bragging about the kid because everybody loved him.” Minshew, whose humility is served with a plate of self-confidence – and at times, a dash of well-placed arrogance – should see his NFL dreams realized at some point in the next 72 hours, another profound “told ya so” to the dozens of college coaches and recruiters who passed on college football’s leading passer. He’s widely expected to be drafted by an NFL team – somewhere between rounds 4 and 7, probably – which unfortunately ends Brandon’s infatuation for the Cougars and shifts the town’s rooting interest to whichever pro club picks up the well-traveled QB, the one whose path included stops at Troy, Northwest Mississippi and East Carolina before the football gods finally delivered to him to WSU, which proved a wildly successful plot twist to Minshew’s fascinating story. While other draftees host small watch parties throughout the week and into the weekend, there had been talks in Brandon of staging a full-on block party for Minshew. A local architect pitched that idea to the Minshew family, suggesting they rope off a small area downtown during Thursday night’s first round of the draft and invite local musicians and food vendors. It was squashed quickly because the Minshews don’t want that much attention around their son until he knows where he’s going. Instead, Gardner and a much smaller group of family members and friends will watch at home all three days, deciding to save the townwide festivities for Saturday night. “I think it’s a little surreal,” mother Kim Minshew said in late January from the living room of the Minshew family home. “Like watching the (NFL) playoff games yesterday. I was sitting there watching Jared Goff and Pat Mahomes and thinking, just a few years ago they were kind of where he is. And I think, they’re not that much older than him. So it’s just, sometimes I should take a deep breath because it is surreal. “What’s the saying? You better be ready for the opportunity of a lifetime during the lifetime of the opportunity. And he’s always been ready to take advantage of that.” By the end of Minshew’s short five-month tenure in Pullman, WSU fans felt they knew the “Mississippi Mustache” as well as any four- or five-year QB who has come through the program. But if you want to truly capture Minshew’s essence, it requires a trip to the suburban Mississippi town that raised him, and conversations with the people that shaped him. They have plenty to tell you about Brandon’s favorite son. Church league Sunday mass isn’t the only thing that goes on at Brandon First United Methodist Church. For years, before he had to commit to one sport and push all others to the side, Minshew participated in the church’s 5-on-5 traveling basketball league. This was designed to be a fun after-school extracurricular, but Minshew saw it as a weekly opportunity to release his competitive juices – and there wasn’t much that was holy about what Brandon’s team did to the other chapels. “We went over to kill people,” said Wallace, who coached Minshew’s church league teams. “The best part was when we jump on a team, they call timeout, this lady – momma – stands up. She starts going, ‘It’s church league! It’s church league!’ Anyway, we talked to them, we’re sitting on the bench with them. We talked to them like, ‘Stay after it, stay on it’. Gardner goes, ‘Hey on three, church league on three.’ I go, ‘Nah, nah, you can’t do that. You can’t do that.’ ” The church director sat squeamishly in a corner of the gym watching it all unfold. “He wouldn’t sit with us,” Wallace said. Minshew’s team won one of those church league games by a resounding score: 60-2. But the margin didn’t matter when Josh Stowers played suspect defense on a drive to the hoop, giving the opponent a layup for their only basket. “Obviously, we won by 58 points, but just that ridiculous competitive drive,” friend John Wilson recalled. “He still gives Josh a hard time about that. It needed to be 60-0.” “Ultracompetitive,” said Wallace, who added he made a tradeoff with Minshew.<doc-sep>
The Mississippi Mustache WASHINGTON STATE quarterback Gardner Minshew, the Pac-12's Offensive Player of the Year after leading the Cougars to a top 10 national ranking, moments ago was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the sixth round on the final day of the 2019 NFL draft. He was the tenth quarterback taken in the draft In going at No. 178 overall, Minshew is in line for a $190,887 signing bonus as part of a four-year contract with a total value of about $2.7 million Minshew, back home in Mississippi with this family when his NFL call came in, was projected to go anywhere in the third day of the draft, with rounds 6 and 7 being the most likely. ESPN NFL Draft experts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay both had Minshew as QB No. 9 on their big boards. Minshew on his preparation: “I want to be the most prepared when it comes to rookie mini-camp and going into training camp,” Minshew told Pro Football Focus last month. “Right now, I’m really focused on learning NFL defenses, NFL protection schemes as best as I can so I can help with that learning curve when it does come. Obviously, I think I deserve to be in that [first-round] conversation, but at the end of the day, you can’t control that. What I can control is being the best when it comes to rookie mini-camp and then training camp.” Expert Breakdown: “Minshew's ascension from unheralded graduate transfer to Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year is indicative of the enigma he is in the 2019 draft. He might not have the desired traits, but he has very good intangibles and accuracy. He could become a good QB3 in a timing-based passing attack that conceals his average arm talent” -- Lance Zierlein, NFL Analyst for NFL.com NFL Comparison (according to NFL.com): Chase Daniels His glorious single season at WSU: It didn’t last long for the Cougars, but Minshew was worth his weight in gold for the lone season he played at WSU. In addition to leading WSU to its first 11-win season in school history, he finished first or tied for first in the following single-season statistical categories: Completions (468) Passing yards (4,779) Passing touchdowns (38) 300-yard passing games (11) Minshew finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting and earned the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation's best senior quarterback. The Measurables: Height: 6-1 Weight: 225 Hand: 10 1/8 Arm: 31 ¾ Wonderlic: 42 QBs taken in the 2019 NFL Draft: Kyler Murray, first round (1st overall), Arizona Daniel Jones, first round (6th), New York Giants Dwayne Haskins, first round (15th), Washington Drew Lock, second round (42nd), Denver Will Grier, third round (100th), Carolina Ryan Finley, fourth round (104th), Cincinnati Jarrett Stidham, fourth round (133rd), New England Easton Stick, fifth round (166th), Los Angeles Chargers Clayton Thorson, fifth round (167th), Philadelphia WSU's QB history in the NFL draft: 2019: GARDNER MINSHEW 2018: Luke Falk , 6th round Tennessee (199th overall) 2008: Alex Brink, 7th round Houston (223rd overall) 1998: Ryan Leaf, 1st round San Diego (2nd overall) 1993: Drew Bledsoe, 1st round New England (1st overall) 1989 Timm Rosenbach, 1st round (supplemental) Phoenix (1st overall) 1986: Mark Rypien, 6th round Washington (146th overall) 1983: Clete Casper 12th round Los Angeles Rams (311th overall) 1981: Samoa Samoa 9th round Cincinnati (230th overall) 1979: Jack Thompson 1st round Cincinnati (3rd overall) 1973: Ty Paine 9th round New York Giants (225th overall) 1963: Dave Mathieson 6th round Chicago (81st overall) 1958: Bob Newman 2nd round San Francisco (22nd overall) 1950: Bob Gambold 24th round Cardinals (307th overall) 1942: Bill Sewell 7th round, Eagles (53rd overall) 1937: Ed Goddard 1st round, Brooklyn (2nd overall) WSU'S ENTIRE NFL DRAFT HISTORY, 1936-2019 RELATED: Gardner Minshew scores sky high on the NFL's Wonderlic test