2017 NFL Draft interview: Central Missouri QB Garrett Fugate
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs have shown interest in a quarterback prospect close to home: Garrett Fugate from Central Missouri. Here’s our interview.
Garrett Fugate isn’t thinking about the draft. He’s just trying to get healthy. The Central Missouri quarterback is currently working out at Parabolic, a rehab and performance center that specializes in helping athletes recover from serious injury—the sort that sidelined Fugate during the final game of his collegiate career.
Despite tearing his ACL and MCL, Fugate has still earned the attention of pro scouts who are drawn to his arm strength and accuracy. Even as a small school prospect, Fugate speaks with confidence about his pro chances and feels he’s every bit as capable of succeeding as his peers from much larger schools.
The Raiders, Packers, Eagles and Chiefs have already come calling before his pro day, and we recently sat down with him to find out more about his hopes and where he’s at with his injury.
Where are you working out right now?
I’m at Parabolic, a rehab and performance center. I’m doing rehab every day, lifting and throwing and working out six days each week.
How are things coming so far?
It’s been awesome so far. The rehab has been great. Right now I’m focused on a lot of lateral movement, so I can get cleared to throw by the beginning of April so I can do my drops and stuff. I’ve made a lot of progress. I’ve been out here for two weeks and I’m here for two more, but so far it’s been great.
How did you hook up there in the first place?
My agent told me about it. He’s worked with Trevor Siemian, and Trevor did the same thing. He tore his ACL in the last game of his season, came out here and had a lot of success with them. Then he ended up getting drafted by the Broncos. I knew that they had a pretty good ACL rehab program and that’s how I got connected. So far, so good.
Take me back to that moment you described earlier. Do you remember your initial response when you first went down? Did you know how bad it was?
It was kind of a two-part injury. I had most likely torn my MCL, and I went to the trainers. With the adrenaline and everything, I went back in and played a couple more series. Then my knee just gave out and it was excruciating pain. At that moment you want to think that maybe it’s just a strain or something, but I knew it was bad. I knew it was probably an ACL after just seeing teammates have it, from the reaction they have when they hit the ground. I thought maybe it was just MCL hopefully, but it was the ACL too.