The retired professor set his laptop computer apart and reached for the distant. For greater than an hour, Chris Pionke had paid little consideration to the NFL recreation on the tv in entrance of him. The groups moved backwards and forwards throughout the display and the announcers offered evaluation, however Pionke was scrolling mindlessly on his laptop computer. That modified when he heard the title.
Josh Dobbs.
Pionke, who taught engineering on the College of Tennessee for practically three a long time, perked up and elevated the quantity. He puzzled if the announcers have been simply mentioning the previous Volunteers quarterback, or if Dobbs was really within the recreation. He squinted on the display and noticed a tall, lanky, familiar-looking participant sporting the No. 15 in Minnesota Vikings white and purple.
Pionke hollered to his spouse who had been sitting over within the kitchen.
“Cindy!” Pionke mentioned. “Josh is in!”
Their Knoxville, Tenn., residence livened instantly with soccer noises. Dobbs barked the pre-snap cadence. Linemen crashed into each other. Announcers yelled, astonished at what they have been watching. Pionke listened intently whereas Dobbs orchestrated a thriller of a victory in aid of rookie Jaren Corridor regardless of having fewer than 5 days of preparation along with his new staff.
TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS! TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS!
JOSH DOBBS TAKE OVER THE GAME!
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/jChQH10AYF
— FOX Sports activities: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 5, 2023
The professor cheered excitedly however was not shocked. Those that knew Dobbs properly — his former coaches, advisers, mentors, household and buddies — felt a lot the identical means.
Their response to Dobbs’ public introduction is greatest summed up by former Pittsburgh Steelers normal supervisor Kevin Colbert, who reiterated the identical message 5 instances in a 10-minute telephone name:
“If you realize Josh, this isn’t shocking. This isn’t shocking in any respect.”
Josh Dobbs confirmed up in Knoxville sporting a baby-blue go well with. Customized enterprise playing cards stuffed his pockets. An in depth schedule laid out his whole day.
Lengthy earlier than he grew to become Tennessee’s starter, months earlier than he even dedicated to the college, Dobbs took a tour. Alongside his mother and father, Stephanie and Robert, Dobbs was chaperoned throughout campus. They visited the soccer services in addition to the engineering lecture halls.
Behind the scenes, the athletic division had orchestrated a gathering with Matthew Mench, then the pinnacle of the aerospace engineering division.
Towards the top of their dialog, Mench tossed out a query.
“What math are you presently taking?”
Dobbs deadpanned, “Differential equations.”
Mench’s eyebrow rose as if to say: “How within the hell?”
Differential equations, thoughts you, sometimes follows Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Matrix algebra and Calculus 3. A excessive schooler taking such a sophisticated class was remarkable.
Why was Dobbs so superior?
Stephanie, a former UPS govt, and Robert, a longtime banking govt, deliberately uncovered Dobbs to an array of topics as he was rising up in Alpharetta, Ga., outdoors of Atlanta. They parented with a normal creed: The world is yours, and you are able to do something you select.
“To have the ability to try this,” Stephanie mentioned, “it’s important to know what’s accessible.”
Josh Dobbs with engineering professor Matthew Mench. (Courtesy of the College of Tennessee Faculty of Engineering)
Stephanie and Robert sparked the youthful Dobbs’ curiosity by yearly journeys. They visited completely different faculties. They explored museums. They wished their son to soak up all of it.
On lots of these journeys, whereas sitting idly in bustling airports, Dobbs stood starry-eyed and watched as lovely equipment disappeared into the sky. Airplanes grew to become a fascination. As a youth, Dobbs requested his mother and father countless questions on what they have been and the way they labored. Years later, he would stand on the window and recite the make, mannequin and dimension of each aircraft in sight.
As Dobbs reached center college, his mother and father pushed him to strive quite a few actions. They allowed him to play soccer, basketball and baseball, versus specializing in a single. They advised he strive the saxophone. He joined the talk staff. Stephanie thought it’d be nice for Josh to strive the chess membership. That’s, if he was really severe about beating her.
“He finally did,” Stephanie mentioned. “Oh my goodness, I used to be heartbroken.”
As Dobbs reached highschool, math got here naturally. Dobbs loved problem-solving and was so proficient that he started taking higher-level math lessons at a local people faculty as an upperclassman. Realizing he may pair his love of flight along with his aptitude for math, Dobbs determined to pursue aerospace engineering in faculty, which Mench described as a topic centered across the physics, supplies, construction and propulsion of every thing that flies in house.
Advisers tried to speak him out of it, outlining the schedule constraints and workload, however Dobbs would reduce them off. Stephanie and Robert backed their son’s imaginative and prescient as a result of they believed within the reward of passionate pursuit. They usually knew their son was dedicated, doubts be damned.
Two days into Dobbs’ first coaching camp as a freshman at Tennessee, Antone Davis, a UT soccer staffer, noticed Dobbs sitting on the ground inside the power.
A playbook was sprawled out on the carpet beside him. Dobbs scanned the pages. Davis thought he’d play a joke on the beginner, so he hollered down the hallway.
“Hey rookie,” he yelled, “you about to study these performs but?”
Davis thought Dobbs would squirm. As a substitute, he appeared up and nodded convincingly.
“Sure sir,” Dobbs mentioned. “I do know all the ideas, and I do know what they’re making an attempt to do.”
Davis nodded awkwardly and stepped again into his workplace.
“I used to be, like, ‘Uhh, OK then.’”
Preparation was by no means an issue for Dobbs. He awoke at 6:30, attended class from 8-2, practiced and watched movie from 2:30-7, then completed his homework within the tutorial constructing from 7:30-10. If want be, he’d discover additional time for classwork or movie examine earlier within the morning or later within the night.
Faculty soccer followers heard about this the primary time Dobbs performed a university soccer recreation. It was October 2013, and Tennessee’s beginning quarterback, Justin Worley, had injured his proper thumb. The Vols turned to Dobbs, then a freshman, on the highway towards Alabama, the most effective staff within the nation. On the tv broadcast, CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson shared an anecdote that had been relayed to her by a Tennessee staffer.
Just a few weeks earlier, Tennessee had performed Oregon in Eugene. The Vols misplaced the sport and flew residence late at evening. The entire cabin lights on the flight have been darkish — apart from one. Tucked in the course of the aircraft was Dobbs, who sat within the aisle and flipped by thick engineering books.
As Wolfson shared the story, Dr. Christopher Pionke listened and thought: Now I perceive how he accomplished his task in honors Engineering Fundamentals 157.
The category, to make use of Pionke’s personal phrases, was “relentless.” College students attended lectures Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday and Thursday have been reserved for labs, initiatives and downside periods. That semester, Dobbs additionally took four-credit math and chemistry lessons.
A tough draft of the four-year plan created by Dobbs, his mom, Stephanie, and his tutorial adviser at Tennessee, Brian Russell, previous to his freshman 12 months. (Courtesy of Russell)
Backing up Worley helped Dobbs’ prioritization early on even when, away from the cameras, coaches already have been making a case for him to play.
Throughout one assembly of the teaching workers, Davis mentioned, a coach interjected: “Guys, who’re we going to get to play quarterback?”
Silence enveloped the room for a number of seconds, then a defensive coach blurted out, “Josh can do it.”
“He can’t run,” one other coach jawed again. “Josh can’t run.”
“Coach!” one other defensive staffer mentioned. “We will’t catch him on the scout staff. We will’t catch him.”
“I’ll always remember that,” Davis mentioned. “That’s when (head coach) Butch (Jones) determined to offer him a chance.”
Dobbs performed 5 video games his freshman season and entered spring follow in a full-on quarterback competitors. Away from the sector, he was establishing Olympic medal stands out of froth core and dealing his connections to safe an internship for the summer season.
Late within the spring, Jerry Wheeler, a longtime director of army engines at Pratt & Whitney and a Tennessee alum, obtained a telephone name from a mutual pal of the Dobbs household.
“There’s a member of the soccer staff at Tennessee who want to intern at Pratt & Whitney in the course of the summer season,” the pal mentioned.
“I solely know one man on the soccer staff who’s an aerospace engineer main,” Wheeler responded.
“Yeah,” the mutual pal mentioned, “it’s Josh.”
Just a few months later, whereas Dobbs may have been having fun with his quick break from college, he confirmed up on daily basis to a management room in West Palm Seashore, Fla., to watch pc show screens that filtered knowledge on an engine mounted in entrance of them.
Dobbs went 22–15 between 2013 and 2016 because the Vols’ beginning quarterback. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Photos)
Those that knew Dobbs at Tennessee typically really feel as if they’ve to supply a clarification.
I swear, they’ll say. He actually did all of this!
Positive, in his 4 years with the Vols, he accomplished 61.5 p.c of his passes for 7,138 yards and 87 touchdowns (53 passing, 32 dashing and two receiving). He led the staff to 9-4 marks in his junior and senior seasons, setting a number of college data alongside the way in which. He graduated in 2017 with an ideal 4.0 GPA and gained Tennessee’s 2017 Torchbearer Award, the best honor for an undergraduate pupil.
However there’s a lot extra.
One instance: the semester Dobbs met one-on-one with a professor every morning as a result of the category was at 3 p.m., the identical time as UT’s soccer follow.
One other instance: the time Dobbs left follow instantly to go converse at a Boy Scouts of America banquet three hours down the highway in Atlanta. Brian Russell, the staff’s tutorial adviser, drove Dobbs, who sat within the backseat and furiously tapped away at his pc. Upon arrival, he became a go well with, spoke to the youngsters after which slept within the automobile on the three-hour drive again so he may attend class within the morning.
One other instance: the time Dobbs held up the Vols’ buses earlier than a highway journey as a result of he was spending time with a younger lady who had been recognized with Alopecia areata, simply as he had. Davis had knowledgeable Dobbs that spending 5 minutes with the younger lady would suffice. Forty-five minutes later, Dobbs was laughing with the younger lady inside Tennessee’s indoor follow facility. She’d worn a wig, nervous about her situation, however Dobbs had made her really feel comfy sufficient that she took it off only for him. Coaches observed Dobbs was lacking and yelled for him, solely to search out out later what he’d been as much as.
“That was one of many coolest moments,” Davis mentioned. “It was a time the place he didn’t have time. And he took time to find time for the little lady.”
In 4 years, he grew to become a spokesperson for the engineering college. He visited with potential college students, spoke at banquets and met with donors. He mastered time administration in a means Russell hadn’t witnessed earlier than (or since) with a pupil athlete.
“It was such as you have been coping with a CEO of a multi-billion-dollar firm,” Russell mentioned. “And I imply that critically. The younger man was some of the particular human beings I’ve ever had the chance to work with.”
The dynamics of Dobbs’ pre-NFL draft preparations solely furthered that feeling. Within the spring of 2017, Dobbs cut up time between Knoxville and Bradenton, Fla., at IMG Academy. A few credit score hours remained, so he would practice at IMG from Friday by Tuesday and attend lessons in Knoxville from Wednesday to Friday.
The journey? The mayhem? The completely different environments? Fulfilling obligations? Working with others? Working in high-pressure environments?
That is all Josh Dobbs has recognized.
Dobbs and Tennessee teammate Curt Maggitt with engineering professor Christopher Pionke. (Courtesy of Pionke)
This previous weekend, as Pionke nestled into his recliner to look at Dobbs begin one other NFL recreation towards the New Orleans Saints, he thought to himself: Lastly. The world is attending to see who Josh Dobbs is.
For years, the professor had adopted Dobbs’ path and waited for him to get his probability. The Steelers drafted him in 2017 as a developmental possibility behind Ben Roethlisberger. Colbert, the previous GM, mentioned Dobbs wowed the staff along with his on-field efficiency. It’s simply that the Steelers had a Corridor of Famer standing in his means.
Cleveland signed Dobbs to a one-year, $1 million deal in 2022, however reduce him late within the season. The Browns requested to carry him again on the follow squad, Stephanie mentioned, however Dobbs felt that becoming a member of the Lions’ follow squad would give him the most effective probability to succeed long run.
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Josh Dobbs, Browns’ backup QB and a legit rocket scientist, prepared if wanted
Needing a quarterback late final season, Tennessee recognized Dobbs as a participant who may study the Titans offense shortly and “erase the grey when issues didn’t play out clear,” mentioned one coach who had a job within the signing. In reality, Dobbs acclimated extra shortly than they anticipated, the coach mentioned, and spoke steadfastly to coaches about tailoring the offense to the gamers already within the system — not him.
In keeping with agent Mike McCartney, although Dobbs completed his two Titans begins a mediocre 40-for-68 passing (a 58.8 p.c completion price) for 411 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and two misplaced fumbles, one coach instructed Dobbs after his last recreation, “You’re going to be our man subsequent 12 months.”
In his first recreation with the Vikings, Dobbs, who had simply arrived by way of commerce, went 20-of-30 passing for 158 yards, ran for 66 yards and totaled three touchdowns in main Minnesota to a come-from-behind win in Atlanta. (Dale Zanine / USA At this time)
A regime change in Tennessee altered these plans, and the Titans in the end drafted quarterback Will Levis. Solely two groups expressed actual curiosity this offseason, based on McCartney: Cleveland and Arizona.
“I bear in mind considering to myself: ‘Did anyone watch these two Tennessee video games?’” McCartney mentioned. “‘Can we not watch the tape? Not one pre-snap penalty in two video games with a man who simply arrived 9 days earlier than his first begin?’ It simply didn’t utterly make sense that solely two groups had curiosity.”
After reviewing each groups’ infrastructures, Dobbs, now 28, signed with the Browns. Throughout the preseason, although, they traded him to the Cardinals, the place lastly, after six years of spotty enjoying time, a recreation plan was constructed round his ability set. Eight begins later, following admirable showings towards a number of of the NFL’s greatest defenses, Dobbs was on the transfer once more.
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He flew to a brand new metropolis. He buried himself in a brand new playbook. He stayed on the facility with Vikings assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski late on Friday afternoon to make sure he may function the sport plan.
Within the eyes of Dobbs’ mother and father, that, actually, is the story right here. Eschewing the trail of least resistance. Exhausting all accessible sources. Getting ready your self for the chance in order that when the time comes, the one people who find themselves shocked are those who don’t know you in any respect.
(Prime photograph: Adam Bettcher / Getty Photos)
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