Garrett Gilbert

Garrett Antone Gilbert (born July 1, 1991) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent.

He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons.

The son of former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert, he played college football at the University of Texas at Austin and SMU.

Gilbert made his first high school start for Lake Travis during his sophomore year in the 2006 Texas Football Classic, where he led the Cavaliers to a 41–34 victory over Texas City.

His performance caused Texas gridiron sportswriters to take notice, including Lone Star Gridiron's Chris Doelle who referred to Gilbert as "the best high school quarterback I have seen EVER."

Gilbert guided Lake Travis to the 2007 Texas UIL Class 4A Division II State Championship.

Upon completing the 2007 season, he broke state records for completions (359), pass attempts (555) and yards (4,827).

After Lake Travis won the 2007 championship, the team's head coach, Jeff Dicus, resigned to take the head coaching position at Class 5A Duncanville High School.

Chad Morris, then the head coach at Stephenville High School, became the new coach.

Prior to his senior season, Gilbert learned Morris' offense.

On top of the coaching change, Gilbert had to undergo minor shoulder surgery, from which he took five months to recover.

He was not able to lift weights during the five-month period, and instead performed rehabilitation exercises.

Gilbert recovered in time to play the first game of the 2008 season.

In the 2008 season, Gilbert led Lake Travis to a perfect 16–0 record and its second straight state title.

He finished the season with 4,851 passing yards for 55 touchdowns.

Gilbert completed his high school career setting a state record of 12,534 passing yards, breaking the previous mark set by Graham Harrell by two yards.

Gilbert finished second to Harrell for career touchdowns, completions and attempts.

He led his Cavaliers to a 39–4 combined record as a starter from his sophomore through senior seasons.

Gilbert verbally committed to play college football for the Texas Longhorns on February 7, 2008, the day after he received the offer in the mail.

He always had aspirations to play for Texas since he was a child.

During his youth, he pretended to play football for the Longhorns, passing the football to himself in his living room and diving onto the couch to catch it.

When he was eight, he had the chance to play catch with then-Texas quarterback Major Applewhite, whom he considered to be his idol growing up.

His family members were also season ticket holders.

Gilbert was rated as a five-star prospect by Rivals.com.

Along with 79 other high school seniors, Gilbert played in the 2009 Under Armour All-America Game on January 4, 2009.

In the nationally televised matchup, Gilbert completed 11-of-22 passes for 161 yards and an interception as he guided the Black team in its 27–16 loss to the White team.

Alongside Matt Barkley of Mater Dei High School in California, Gilbert was the premier quarterback prospect of the class of 2009.

Former college head coach Jackie Sherrill called Gilbert the best quarterback he has seen since Dan Marino.

It was at first thought that Gilbert would likely redshirt in 2009 and compete for the starting job in 2010.

However, since former backup quarterback John Chiles was moved to wide receiver, Gilbert competed with Sherrod Harris for the backup job during the off-season.

On August 23, 2009, Gilbert became the second-string quarterback as a true freshman, in front of the junior Harris.

In the 2009 season opener against Louisiana-Monroe, Gilbert lined up behind center during the fourth quarter and drove the Longhorns down the field, completing four-of-five passes for 46 yards, before scoring a twelve-yard rushing touchdown on a quarterback draw play to end the drive.

Gilbert participated in ESPN RISE's 10th anniversary Elite 11 quarterback event from July 21–24.

He was one of the 11 high school quarterbacks selected out of a pool of more than a thousand.

The Elite 11 played against each other and received coaching from current standout college quarterbacks.

An ESPN columnist pointed out that Gilbert was the most likely player from the camp to win the college football national championship.

On January 7, 2010, in the BCS National Championship Game, Gilbert replaced the injured Colt McCoy.

Joining the NFL in 2014, Gilbert was primarily assigned to his teams' practice squads during his first four seasons and appeared in only one game with the Carolina Panthers.

He came to prominence in 2019 as the starting quarterback for the Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), where he led the league in passing yards and passer rating.

Gilbert rejoined the NFL after the AAF suspended operations and started games for the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Football Team.