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Mike Leach wasn't surprised Minshew tried to break own hand in college

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Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew has captivated NFL fans since taking over for the injured Nick Foles, both with his play on the field and through a series of wild stories.

The latest tale, as told by Minshew on Friday's episode of Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast, involved him trying to break his throwing hand to receive a medical redshirt while at East Carolina. This didn't come as a surprise to Minshew's former coach at Washington State, Mike Leach.

"We have a deal where during camp we'll have some of the guys talk to the team and talk about their background or whatever, and yeah, he told that story to the whole team," Leach said Friday on "The Rich Eisen Show."

When asked what he thought of it, Leach replied: "By then I'd known him a little bit. I mean, I know it sounds strange but after you know Gardner for not too long of a period of time, that really doesn't surprise you that much."

Leach also shared the pitch Washington State made to Minshew.

"About the time we sorted out that we want to recruit him, he'd committed to Alabama. So we figured we'd call him anyway, 'cause we knew we threw it more than Alabama did," Leach said. "So we called him up and said, you know, 'Hey, you want to hold a clipboard at Alabama or you want to lead the nation in passing?' And he came to Washington State."

In his lone season at Washington State, Minshew completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 4,776 yards with 38 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

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