Does Washington State now have its next starting QB? EWU transfer Gage Gubrud ruled eligible in 2019
Washington State got an important addition to the football roster Saturday with the revelation that quarterback Gage Gubrud would be immediately eligible.
Gubrud has played most of his career at Eastern Washington. But after an injury-shortened 2018 season, he’s going to finish his career as a graduate transfer at Washington State.
“We are excited for Gage to come in and compete with the quarterbacks on our team,” Washington State coach Mike Leach said in a statement. “He is an extremely experienced and productive player who led Eastern Washington to great heights in his time there. It’s not often that you can add a quarterback to your roster that has started 28 games and thrown for nearly 10,000 yards. We are looking forward to getting him on campus and finishing his collegiate career in a WSU Cougar uniform.”
Gubrud is set to enroll at Washington State for the spring semester so he can participate in spring practice with the team.
Gubrud was initially denied transfer
Gubrud suffered a season-ending toe injury in the fifth game of the season in 2018. He applied for a medical redshirt for the 2018 season and an ensuing sixth year of eligibility that would allow him to transfer to Washington State as a graduate transfer.
That transfer application was denied earlier in the week. Gubrud immediately appealed the NCAA’s decision and the sanctioning body overturned the initial decision. That paved the way for Gubrud to transfer to the Cougars.
The NCAA also ruled this week that former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields would be immediately eligible at Ohio State.
Gubrud has been one of the best QBs in FCS
Gubrud played in 32 games in his Eastern Washington career and threw for 9,984 yards and 87 touchdowns. He joins a quarterback group at Washington State that doesn’t have much FBS playing experience and should be the favorite to start in 2019.
If Gubrud ends up as Washington State’s starting QB he’ll be the second-straight graduate transfer to have the job. After Tyler Hilinski’s tragic death in 2018, former East Carolina QB Gardner Minshew transferred to Washington State and had a fantastic season. He completed over 70 percent of his passes and threw for over 4,700 yards.
Leach told the Spokesman-Review that he was a fan of Gubrud’s ability to make things happen after plays break down. Gubrud rushed for over 1,000 yards in his time at Washington State.
“When he’s on the move, he’s fairly threatening,” Leach told the paper. “Some guys, when you get them on the move and you say, ‘Good he’s on the move, he’s liable to screw this up.’ … Then other guys kind of put you in that screwy bind of, OK you’ve got to affect the quarterback, because if you don’t affect him there won’t be any bad throws and you won’t sack him.
“But if all the sudden he breaks the pocket and – some guys you’re afraid may run, but in (Gage’s) case not so much that. He might, but he throws it pretty well on the run. Once he takes off and breaks the pocket, that’s when he gets some of his explosive plays.”
Gubrud is the second recent Eastern Washington QB to finish his career at a Pac-12 school. Former EWU quarterback Vernon Adams transferred to Oregon and played the 2015 season with the Ducks after finishing second for the Walter Payton Award for the second season in a row. The Payton Award is the FCS version of the Heisman.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter
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