Joshua Dobbs had stellar interviews at the NFL Scouting Combine. (Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs is gearing up for the NFL Draft this month, and the former Tennessee Volunteer has no doubts about being able to manage a pro football playbook.
During the Scouting Combine the 22-year-old Dobbs, who majored in aerospace engineering and interned for industry manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in the summer of 2015, was asked by some teams if he could handle an NFL handbook.
“My senior year I was taking astronautics, propulsion and an aerodynamics class — all on the same day,” he said to The MMQB Tuesday, April 4. “At the same time as football season when I was leading an SEC team. I think I can handle it.”
In his last season as a Volunteers player, Dobbs logged 3,781 yards of total offense, which is the most in the history of the school behind famed alum Peyton Manning.
ESPN shared Dobb’s impressive answer in a tweet.
When you are studying to become a rocket scientist, some things become less daunting. pic.twitter.com/uP6pqcTlWN
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) April 6, 2017
Dobbs’ confident response didn’t sit well with former Mizzou wide receiver T.J. Moe, who fired off this response on Twitter two days later.
https://twitter.com/TJMoe28/status/850012046703939584
Too bad for Moe, his followers were ready to defend Dobbs.
Dobbs will do 2 things you are not capable of. 1. Be drafted by a NFL team. 2. Know how to fly a spaceship. Case closed
— chad foley (@CHADF42) April 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/cleothevol/status/850153877576069120
wth is a tj moe and what NFL team does he play for???? i'll wait…
— 🇺🇸*•.¸♡ Ҝiм ♡¸.•*🇺🇸 (@Kim_4VOLS) April 7, 2017
Dobbs has brains and will one day will be designing planes and rockets. In the meanwhile, he is expected to be drafted.What have you done?
— Volmom2 (@volmom2) April 7, 2017
It’s not likely the dig means anything to Dobbs, who is focused on rounding out his academic career by completing his senior design project requiring him to design, build and fly a plane.
“Everyone’s going to try to label my skills and abilities, try to put me in a box that’s going to define me,” Dobbs told USA Today Sports. “But at the end of the day, I don’t abide by those labels. The only thing I really care about is my own.
“I know that when I step on the field, I create another dimension — with my leadership, with my ability to make every throw on the field, with my ability to extend plays if needed to at times,” the star named one of the smartest college football players by NFL.com in 2014 said. “At the end of the day, I’m trying to be the best Josh Dobbs I can be. If I continue to do that, I’ll be as successful as I want to be.”
