This time last year, Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew was preparing to be the team’s starter. While it appears he will not be the starter this season after the team selected QB Trevor Lawrence with the number one overall pick in this year’s draft, the third-year quarterback is keeping the same preparation.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Minshew said on Friday when asked if he’s competing to be the starter this season. “I think any time you go into anything thinking that losing or second best is an option, most of the time that’s what you’re going to get. That’s like when [Hernán] Cortés landed up at Veracruz with 600 dudes, trying to take the Aztec Empire, you know what he said? He said, ‘Burn the boats; we’re going back on their boats.’ So, that’s kind of a mindset that stuck with me, pretty much, since I heard that story.”
According to Minshew, while he’s competing with Lawrence for the starting job, he and Lawrence have a solid relationship.
“Oh, it’s great,” he said. “Trevor(Lawrence) is an awesome dude, super humble, coming in here ready to work, ready to learn. It’s been a lot of fun working with him, and I’m excited to continue to build that relationship.”
There’s another quarterback in camp with the Jaguars, but he’s a tight end. Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy at Florida, and many consider one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time, is trying to get back into the league after last playing in a regular-season game almost nine years ago.
Minshew has always been a big fan of Tebow, and now he’s throwing to him.
“It’s still so cool,” he said. “I mean, every time I throw to him, I just smile. That’s like my favorite thing. But it’s like, it’s unbelievable. You hear bigger-than-life stories about the dude, and it’s all real. It’s unbelievable. I’ve never—truly bigger-than-life type person. So, it’s been really awesome to be around him.”
Barring a trade or catastrophic injury, Minshew will probably be the backup this season for Jacksonville, but he’s a competitor, so expect him to do everything in his power to be the starting quarterback for Jacksonville in 2021.
