King: Nick Saban 'Was Really Disappointed' Gardner Minshew Rejected Alabama

Gardner Minshew led the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 20-7 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 3, but in another world, he might have ended up in Alabama long term.

According to Peter King of Pro Football Talk, Nick Saban wanted him to join the Crimson Tide:

"It's amazing to think that instead of being a rising star in the NFL right now, he could either be backing up Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama, or he could be working as a graduate assistant offensive coach on the Alabama staff under Nick Saban.

"Said a source close to the Alabama program: 'Nick really wanted him as a backup [in 2018], in case Jalen Hurts or Tua [Tagovailoa] transferred after spring ball, depending on which one lost the starting job. Then Nick would have kept him as a graduate assistant because he probably wouldn't have gotten into the NFL, and because Gardner wanted to get into coaching whenever he stopped playing.'"

In that scenario, Alabama could have redshirted him last year and had him as Tagovailoa's backup. Instead, Mike Leach and Washington State came calling after the suicide of expected starter Tyler Hilinski.

"My quote to him was, 'Do you want to go to Alabama and hold a clipboard, or do you want to come here and lead the nation in passing?'" Leach told Minshew, per King.

The rest is history. To the chagrin of Saban—"Nick was really disappointed," the Alabama source told King—Minshew chose the Cougars and threw for 4,779 yards and 38 touchdowns in the 2018 season, winning the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year award.

That caught the eye of NFL scouts, and he was drafted by the Jaguars in the sixth round of the 2019 draft and thrust into starting duty when Nick Foles suffered a broken left clavicle in Week 1. Jacksonville lost its first two games, making Week 3's matchup with Tennessee a must-win, and Minshew delivered, finishing 20-of-30 for 204 yards and two touchdowns.

Not too shabby for a player who spent time at Troy University, Northwest Mississippi Community College, East Carolina and Washington State between 2015 and 2018.

"When you've had to kick down the door your whole life to get recognized and get a shot, this is pretty satisfying for Gardner," his father, Flint Minshew, told King. "He was never Johnny Five Star, so I guarantee you he appreciates everything he has and will continue to appreciate it and work at it."