Gardner Minshew: QB · Washington State · #5.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Gardner Minshew
Picks you apart underneath and protects the ball. Played for two head coaches at two programs in three seasons: Scottie Montgomery and Mike Leach. First career honor, 2018: Unitas Golden Arm. A game that shows it: 473 passing yards and 7 passing TD against Arizona — Week 12, 2018.
Play style
High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
50.0% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 24.5% conversion-per-dropback — 50.0% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
2 of the team's 23 inside-the-5 carries (8.7%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Washington State | 468 | 662 | 70.7% | 4,776 | 7.2 | 38 | 9 | 147.5 | 68 |
| 2017 | East Carolina | 174 | 304 | 57.2% | 2,140 | 7.0 | 16 | 7 | 129.1 | 43 |
| 2016 | East Carolina | 119 | 202 | 58.9% | 1,347 | 6.7 | 8 | 4 | 124.0 | 48 |
| Career | 761 | 1,168 | 65.2% | 8,263 | 7.1 | 62 | 20 | 138.7 | 59 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Washington State | 58 | 119 | 2.1 | 4 | 12 |
| 2017 | East Carolina | 18 | −40 | −2.2 | 0 | 7 |
| 2016 | East Carolina | 20 | −36 | −1.8 | 0 | 7 |
| Career | 96 | 43 | 0.4 | 4 | 12 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2018 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 41-19@ Wyoming | 38/57 | 319 | 3 | 1 | 5.6 | — | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 2 | W 31-0vs San José State | 34/51 | 414 | 3 | 2 | 8.1 | — | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 3 | W 59-24vs Eastern Washington | 45/57 | 470 | 2 | 0 | 8.2 | — | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 4 | L 36-39@ USC | 37/52 | 344 | 3 | 0 | 6.6 | — | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 5 | W 28-24vs Utah | 31/56 | 445 | 3 | 1 | 7.9 | — | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 6 | W 56-37@ Oregon State | 30/40 | 430 | 5 | 0 | 10.8 | — | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 8 | W 34-20vs No. 12 Oregon | 39/51 | 323 | 4 | 2 | 6.3 | — | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 9 | W 41-38@ No. 24 Stanford | 40/50 | 438 | 3 | 0 | 8.8 | — | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 10 | W 19-13vs California | 35/51 | 334 | 1 | 1 | 6.5 | — | |
| Wk 11 | W 31-7@ Colorado | 35/58 | 335 | 2 | 0 | 5.8 | — | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 12 | W 69-28vs Arizona | 43/55 | 473 | 7 | 0 | 8.6 | — | Season-high 473 yds |
| Wk 13 | L 15-28vs No. 16 Washington | 26/35 | 152 | 0 | 2 | 4.3 | — | |
 Bowl | W 28-26vs No. 25 Iowa State | 35/49 | 299 | 2 | 0 | 6.1 | — | |
| Total | 468/662 | 4776 | 38 | 9 | 7.2 | — |
Week 12 · 2018
W 69-28
vs Arizona
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 655 passing plays (462 completions) against the box score's 662 attempts (468 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
7.4954 of 207 QBsSack rate
1.9%6 of 207 QBsRarely sacked (6 of 207 QBs) and still 54 of 207 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 70.7% completion on 662 attempts · 53 deep completions averaging 31.1 yds.
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2018 baseline
-32
percentile points worse on first down
Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.
Splits · Per-game
2018 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 373 | 2.9 | 7.1 | 1.1 |
| Road5g | 373 | 3.2 | 7.5 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 389 | 3.0 | 7.6 | 0.6 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 342 | 2.8 | 6.7 | 0.8 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mike Leach
Pass share
71.6%
677 pass / 268 run
Plays / game
72.7
13 games
Scheme: Pass-heavy.
Player standing · 2018
Our Heisman model had this player inside its top 25 in 2018.
How it ended
Three seasons, at East Carolina and Washington State, 8,263 passing yards, the Unitas Golden Arm Award (2018) — drafted at #178 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A stat line in 30 games over three seasons.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
National awards
Unitas Golden Arm
2018 season
Coaching lineage · 2016–2018
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Scottie Montgomery and Mike Leach.
Next stop · NFL
Jacksonville JaguarsEntering 8th NFL season
Jacksonville JaguarsEntering 8th NFL season
