Like many stories, this one begins with tragedy.
In January 2018, Washington State's starting QB, Tyler Hilinski, tragically died of suicide. His death brought on a pall of sadness to the university town of Pullman, and the Washington State Cougars were left without a leader for the coming season.
Washington State is the most remote of the universities in the so-called "power conferences". Its location allows oddballs to thrive. Wazzu's coach, Mike Leach, is as oddball as it gets. Leach is a brilliant offensive mind, exiled to Pullman after being slandered by ESPN, which is another story in and of itself. He's one of the architects of the "Air Raid" offense, which is now sweeping across all levels of football in the form of quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes. He's also known for his love of pirates and grizzly bears.
So yeah, Leach is a weird dude. He also posted a doctored video of Obama but we don't talk about that.
Anyway, Leach needed a quarterback for his high-powered offense. He found another oddball, and together, they made magic while helping to heal Pullman.
Gardner Minshew's path to starting QB for the Jacksonville Jaguars is a long one. Gardner grew up in rural Mississippi. It's worth noting that he actually isn't the second Gardner in his family- his dad's name is Flint, which is Gardner's middle name, so it's unclear where the II came from. He was actually almost named Beowulf by his grandfather. Gardner grew up as a big fan of Leach's offense, and used the tenets picked up from Leach's book and watching film of Leach's Texas Tech offenses to make the all-state team in Mississippi his sophomore through senior years of high school. Unfortunately, these accolades were not enough for Gardner to receive a scholarship offer to a bigger program, so he bounced around the lower levels of college football. He eventually ended up at East Carolina, where he finished his undergraduate career unheralded. College players can continue their playing careers during grad school, and that was Gardner's original plan. He accepted an offer from Alabama to be a backup there and kickstart his coaching career under Nick Saban.
Then, Gardner's football hero Mike Leach came calling.
"Do you want to be a backup at Alabama or lead the nation in passing?"
It was an offer Gardner couldn't refuse.
In college football, there's something known as "Pac-12 After Dark". Basically, ESPN needs late-night programming on Saturdays, which leads to them sticking West Coast teams on at 10 PM EST. These games have a reputation of being batshit insane and well worth the loss of sleep the next day. As a college football degenerate, I love Pac-12 After Dark. Gardner Minshew became the Pac-12 After Dark hero, as well as my personal favorite player in all of college football.
Gardner did indeed end up leading the nation in passing, and led Wazzu to a school-record 11 wins. He finished fifth in Heisman voting and his mustache launched a million college football internet memes. It was a fun ride, and only having one year of Minshew with Leach was a real shame. I didn't think much of his pro prospects, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw he was picked in the sixth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. It seemed to be a flier though since the Jags signed Nick Foles to a big free agency contract. Perhaps the legend of the mustache would live again in NFL garbage time.
Until Nick Foles got hurt in the first quarter of the Jags opener.
Then Gardner Minshew was truly unleashed.
With Nick Foles out for an indefinite amount of time, the legend of the mustache will only continue to grow.
TL;DR- Post Minshew memes because he is the folk hero we need in these trying times.
