North Texas' Mestemaker opens eyes in First Responder start - ESPN

After years of waiting for his chance, Drew Mestemaker got one shot to be a starting quarterback and made the most of it.

The North Texas walk-on hadn't started a game at quarterback since his freshman year of high school in Austin, Texas, where he later started at safety and was an all-district punter.

But with Mean Green starting quarterback Chandler Morris transferring to Virginia, Mestemaker made his first start in four years against Texas State in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Friday. And he had a day, racking up 448 total yards, going 26-of-41 passing for 393 passing yards and two TDs and adding nine carries for 55 yards, including a 70-yard TD run.

That run — the second longest by an American quarterback in a bowl game — cut Texas State's lead to two points, 30-28, with 1:49 left, after which Mestemaker went to the sideline and started throwing up into a trash can.

The freshman's magic ended when he was intercepted with 12 seconds left, and Texas State held on for its second straight First Responder Bowl win.

Still, North Texas, which had the country's No. 3 passing offense this season, came away with an incredible story and a potential star.

«That's the first football game he started at quarterback since the ninth grade, which is just wild to me,» Mean Green coach Eric Morris said of Mestemaker, who backed up current Louisville freshman quarterback Deuce Adams at Vandegrift High in Austin. «To see him go out there and compete the way he did, I mean the kid, he has some traits.»

Morris, who played receiver at Texas Tech under Mike Leach and was later Kliff Kingsbury's offensive coordinator in Lubbock when Patrick Mahomes played there, had high praise for Mestemaker.

«I've been around some good ones, been