The Chicago Bears can’t afford to pass on QB Anthony Gordon

Q&A with Anthony Gordon

DaWindyCity (DWC): Thank you so much for taking some time to chat with us today — we really appreciate that.

Anthony Gordon (AG): Of course man — thanks for having me.

DWC: Some people may not know this, but you were drafted by the New York Mets out of high school. How close were you to choosing to play baseball over football?

AG: I wasn’t too close to playing for them considering my draft position, but we had some pretty extensive talks leading up to the draft. They wanted to gain an understanding of where my head was at in terms of what I was willing to pursue once high school was over. They kind of came to the understanding that I was going to pursue football so that allowed them to go in a different direction and was why I was drafted kind of late. If I had fully committed to baseball, they had kind of entertained the idea that I would have been picked a little higher.

DWC: So instead you headed off to play for City College of San Francisco and then get the call from Mike Leach. What were you feeling when you got the call from Coach Leach?

AG: Oh man that was a pretty surreal feeling. I was hanging out with one of my lifelong best friends Jordan, who lived up the street and I got a text from Jim Mastro (former running backs coach at Washington State). He said, “hey give me a call as soon as you can.” So I gave him a call right away and he was like “I’m about to put you on the phone with someone and you’re about to be pretty blown away.” So then Coach Leach hops on the phone and is like “hey is this Gordon, yeah Gordo that’s going to take some getting used to. We’d like to extend you a scholarship opportunity and we’d be really happy to have you.”

I was blown away and honored at the opportunity to play for arguably the most innovative offensive mind in college football. I was so excited — you know it was always a dream of mine to play in the Pac-12. So I hung up the phone and called my parents.  They didn’t answer so I just called Coach Leach right back and committed. It was one of the offers we were hoping for so I knew my parents would be fired up so it was a no brainer for me.

DWC: Your first year at Washington State you competed with Gardner Minshew and Trey Tinsley. What did you take away from that experience?

AG: It was a tough year. The competition was real fun, you know, we were great friends on and off the field. But we knew we were all gunning for the same goal to be the starting quarterback. While it was business in between the lines, we had a great relationship on and off the field. We always helped each other out and knew whoever got the starting job, we would fully support them. Competing against Gardner and Trey was fun — they’re different — you know they’re both great players and really smart but they have their differences as well. So competing against them was fun and I was able to take bits and pieces away from each of their games.

DWC: So fast forward to this year where you set a number of Pac-12 and school records. At what point did you first think you could be in for a special season?

AG: You know I just did my best to stay within myself day-by-day, game-by-game, and practice-by-practice, but once I was given the starting job I had the confidence and belief in myself and knew all the hard work that I had put in throughout my redshirt year, one year sitting behind Luke [Falk] and Tyler Hilinski, and then one year behind Gardner, I knew it was all going to benefit me and I was going to be able to use those experiences to my advantage. After the first few games, I started to get comfortable and the receivers and offensive line were playing unbelievably, and we had an unbelievable running back in Max Borghi so it kind of made my job easy.

DWC: Some might point to the UCLA game where you threw for 9 touchdowns, but I was more impressed with your performance against the Oregon Ducks, on the road against a top-ten defense. What would you say was your most complete performance this year?

AG: It’s tough to say. You know as you just alluded to that Oregon game was pretty special for myself and our entire team. We had our backs against the wall coming off a couple of tough losses, going up against a really tough opponent and eventual Rose Bowl champs. We gave it our best shot and it was a great experience. They have a great crowd up there. But that last drive, going 90 yards, that was pretty special and our receivers did an unbelievable job of running great routes and running after the catch. And our offensive line knew what was at stake and like they did all year, they kept me upright and gave me time to throw.

DWC: What part of your game do you think saw the most growth this year?

AG: Probably my leadership. I’ve always had a quick release and been able to process information pretty quickly. You know we ran the run-and-shoot in high school, then we ran a combination of air-raid, run-and-shoot, and pro-style at City College, so I was always able to process information quickly. I also had a good understanding of coverages and what the space and leverage was on the field.

So I think my leadership is something I really worked on improving throughout the year — just being someone the guys could go to when things got tough. You know like when our backs were against the wall, for example on that last drive in the Oregon game, just making sure everyone was confident and believed in themselves so we could go down the field to score.

DWC: You seem to play with a little bit of an edge on the field. Talk to me about your competitive side and how you deal with the pressure that comes with playing the position.

AG: Yeah, no doubt. That’s kind of how I’ve always been. I’ve always been a confident individual and played with a chip on my shoulder. Being an underrecruited guy and having to go the junior college route embedded that grit in me and gave me that chip or that edge and has allowed me to compete at a higher level.

DWC: What will you miss the most about your time at Washington State?

AG: I’ll definitely miss playing — especially in front of our great fans. You know it may be the smallest stadium in the Pac-12 but those fans make it the loudest. I’m going to miss the community. Pullman is a real tight-knit community and you know seeing that logo everywhere you go is something special. You know that everyone cares about the Cougs and win or lose they’re always behind us. And I’ll miss my teammates of course. They are what made my experience such a positive one. Being a west coast kid, growing up on the beach and going to the eastern side of Washington, they made me feel right at home and it was a great experience.