The whole time, his dad just kept saying that it would work out. He ended up playing a year at Northwest Mississippi Community College, then transferring to Troy, then to East Carolina. He always knew he was good enough to play QB in college, and maybe the pros, too. When his fisherman's platter arrives, Minshew grabs silverware and transitions to talking about his meandering college football years. He's also very curious, and he's not afraid to challenge you." "Gardner is Gardner and that's how he rolls," says Colts GM Chris Ballard. He is a solid athlete, very smart, works hard and he's feistier than the McConaughey vibes let on. But Minshew is not particularly big, or fast, or much of anything else they measure at the combine. Minshew's mom played basketball at Mississippi State, and Flint was a former D3 football player. "A little salmon, lobster, shrimp with scallops with some rice. But otherwise, you'd have no idea that an NFL quarterback who's earned $5.1 million the past four years is standing there in shorts and a T-shirt of blues singer Derek Trucks.Īs Minshew talks about growing into a terrific high school athlete in Mississippi, he settles on ordering the grilled fisherman's catch. He occasionally upgrades to first class on flights. Minshew pulls into the lot in a 2011 Acura that his parents gave him for high school graduation. In other words, this has all the makings of Minshew Mania III. Indy is coming off a 4-12-1 season, and Caesar's has the Colts as the third-worst odds of winning the Super Bowl. 4 overall pick Anthony Richardson for the job. He's led a wild, nomadic football existence that has built to this moment in Indianapolis, where he'll compete with No. But he is a first-ballot pro football character. Minshew, 27, may not be a Pro Football Hall of Fame football player. TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE he talked about The Hug, Minshew arrives at the restaurant after an OTA practice. It's taken him from Brandon, Mississippi, to four colleges, two NFL teams, and now to the single best opportunity he's had as a pro: competing this year for a starting job in Indianapolis.īy the end of this meal, when he's told the totality of a sequence of events that has led him here, The Hug makes perfect sense in 2021 - and so do the tears in 2023. The conversation goes on for another hour, through the long, winding road of one of the strangest, most inspiring journeys in football. "To have him there to celebrate together, it's really cool," he says.īut his whole story isn't as simple as that summation. By the time he returns, Minshew has gathered himself and is ready to finish his thought. The menu is standing on its edge, pinned against a chair leg by the wind gust, and the couple seems annoyed by an interruption to their PDA. It blows his menu off the table, landing near the couple at the next table. But why does it hit so hard a year-and-a-half later? To have him there to celebrate together." That was just a combination of so much s- we've been through. Minshew fidgets with his lobster tail, and then he works over the edges of his mustache for awhile. He drinks some water and dabs at his eyes. The Hug lasts 30 seconds, and as Minshew watches it now, he laughs and cries, and laughs and cries some more. It's the kind of hug we could all use, and that's probably why video of it went viral. It's the kind of hug that hits because you can just tell they've been waiting a long time for this. But when Hurts went down in Week 13, Minshew came in and was damn near perfect (20-of-25, 242 yards, 2 TDs) to beat the Jets and keep the Eagles in the playoff picture.Īfter the game, in near darkness beside the team bus, Minshew and his dad shared a visceral, aggressive embrace that has all the feels. The Jaguars traded Minshew right before the start of the 2021 season to the Eagles to back up Jalen Hurts. But they're so busy day-drinking and making out - like, really making out - that they seem to have no idea that a guy who has a very good chance of being the Colts' Week 1 starting QB is five feet away getting choked up thinking about a hug.Īt this 90-minute lunch, he's a little misty as he watches a video of himself and his dad embrace in The Hug. On this Wednesday afternoon in late May, there's only one couple nearby at Rick's Café Boatyard. GARDNER MINSHEW IS SITTING in a high-back chair in the outdoor seating section of a restaurant in Indianapolis, and he's trying very hard to not cry as he stares at a phone. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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