In a city that enjoyed more elite quarterback play than any other in the NFL over the past three decades, guys like James Morgan should be more than a once-every-32-years occurrence.

It’s been that long, however, since a quarterback who played high school football in Green Bay, Wisconsin, heard his name called in the NFL draft.cheap nfl jerseys china nike

Morgan, who is draft-eligible this year, couldn’t name the most recent one picked. He had never heard of Bud Keyes from the University of Wisconsin via Green Bay West High School, who was a 10th-round pick (No. 256 overall) of the hometown Packers in 1988.

Morgan could see a statue of Bart Starr every day if he wanted, and had quarterbacks such as Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers playing down the street to idolize.

“I was [Favre’s No.] 4 up until eighth grade and then in high school I switched to [Rodgers’] 12,” Morgan said last week at the NFL scouting combine. “I’ll let you connect the dots on that one.”

For Morgan, it’s less about dots on a map and more about the path to the NFL.nike nfl jerseys cheap china

But one thing made Renner finally read Morgan’s message: the need for a quarterback. FIU had just completed the 2017 season with Alex McGough under center. McGough led the Panthers to an eight-win season and their first bowl game in six years. McGough, who is now on the Houston Texans, was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the seventh round.

It was the morning of Jan. 3, 2018. At 7 a.m., Renner and the rest of the FIU staff had a scheduled meeting with coach Butch Davis to talk about returning players for next season and recruits.

“It’s about 6:30 in the morning, and I’ve got to come up with something,” Renner said. “I literally typed in ‘quarterback’ into the search bar of my email, and sure enough it was James’ email. I read the email.”