Gavin Wimsatt (born October 29, 2003) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

Jacksonville State Gamecocks The Jacksonville State Gamecocks are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Jacksonville State University located in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. In January 2023, the university began phasing in a new identity, Jax State, for marketing a ...

. He attended

Owensboro High School Owensboro High School is a public high school located at 1800 Frederica Street in Owensboro, Kentucky, United States. The school's digital newspaper is ''The Digital Devil''. Owensboro High School is one of only 33 high schools in Kentucky to be ...

and has previously played for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

and the

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

Early life

Wimsatt was born on October 29, 2003. He attended

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a Home rule in the United States, home rule-class city in Daviess County, Kentucky, United States, of which it is also the county seat. It is the List of cities in Kentucky, fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is loca ...

, gaining the starting

job as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

in 2019. That year, he helped them have a record of 12–2 before losing in the state playoff semifinals to

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

, earning second-team all-area honors from the ''

Messenger-Inquirer The ''Messenger-Inquirer'' is a local newspaper in Owensboro, Kentucky. ''The Messenger-Inquirer'' serves 15,087 daily and 20,383 Sunday readers in five counties in western Kentucky. History The newspaper's roots trace back to 1875, when Lee Lu ...

'' while totaling 2,792 passing yards and 31 passing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s, along with 564 yards and 12 scores rushing. He completed 54.7% of his passes on the year and only threw for 10

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

s, and began receiving offers from major

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

teams afterwards despite having only started for one season. Wimsatt was also active in playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and running track, contributing to Owensboro's regional runner-up team in the former. As a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

, Wimsatt led his team to a 12–1 record and an appearance in the state championship, being named first-team all-state by ''

The Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

'' as he completed 176 of his 295 passes for 2,349 yards and 27 touchdowns, additionally running for 443 yards and six touchdowns. '' The Owensboro Times'' named him the state's offensive player of the year and Wimsatt became highly recruited, being ranked the best college recruit from Kentucky, the third-best

dual-threat quarterback In gridiron football, a dual-threat quarterback is a quarterback (QB) who is adept at both passing and running with the ball. With the rise of several blitz-heavy defensive schemes and faster defensive players, the importance of a mobile quarter ...

nationally and the 89th-best player overall. He did not play basketball as a junior, having left the team to focus on football, but continued competing in track, and helped Owensboro win the regional team title while also being the individual region champion in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

. Prior to the start of his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

season, Wimsatt announced his commitment to play college football for the

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

, being the highest-ranked quarterback prospect in the team's history. He appeared in three games in 2021, going 46-for-80 passing for 581 yards with six touchdowns before abruptly leaving to enroll early at Rutgers. He finished his time at Owensboro High School having thrown for 5,304 yards and 62 touchdowns.

College career

Rutgers

Wimsatt became eligible immediately at Rutgers and made his debut in their eighth game of the 2021 season, playing one snap against

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, on which he threw a 13-yard completion for a first down on fourth down. He played his second game two weeks later against

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, recording three rushes for 20 yards. He briefly appeared in Rutgers' loss to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

on November 20 and saw his most extensive action against Wake Forest in the

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, usually contested on or around New Year's Day. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first televise ...

. Against Wake Forest, Wimsatt completed 7-of-16 passes for 30 yards with an interception while running four times for 38 yards. He finished the season with nine completions on 21 pass attempts for 45 yards and 68 rushing yards off nine attempts. Wimsatt began the 2022 season as a backup, totaling five pass completions on nine attempts with an interception in the first game of the year. He made his first start the following week in the Scarlet Knights' 66–7 win over

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, going 4-for-11 for 63 yards passing while running six times for 62 yards. He also threw his first career touchdown pass in the game. It would be one of six starts in eight appearances on the year for Wimsatt. He posted his first start against a

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

opponent on his 19th birthday, October 29, completing 6-of-17 passes with an interception in a loss to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Wimsatt had his best game of the year in a one-score loss to

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

on November 12, posting career-highs with 20 pass completions on 34 attempts for 236 yards with two touchdowns. The following week, he threw for 122 yards and one touchdown in a loss to nationally ranked Penn State, before closing out the year against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. He finished his sophomore season having completed 65-of-145 passes for 757 yards with five passing touchdowns. Entering fall camp as a junior, Wimsatt was named Rutgers' starting quarterback for the 2023 season.

Kentucky

After the 2023 season, Wimsatt transferred to

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. On December 9, 2024, Wimsatt announced that he would enter the transfer portal for the second time.

Jacksonville State

On January 5, 2024, Wimsatt decided to transfer to Jacksonville State.

References

External links

Rutgers Scarlet Knights bioKentucky Wildcats bioJacksonville State Gamecocks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wimsatt, Gavin 2003 births Living people American football quarterbacks Players of American football from Kentucky Sportspeople from Owensboro, Kentucky Jacksonville State Gamecocks football players Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players Kentucky Wildcats football players