5-Star Advice: Tanner McKee
5-Star Advice: Tanner McKee
From the book "5-star QB", Q&A with the former Stanford QB now in his 2nd season as a backup for the Philadelphia Eagles
There have been 140 quarterbacks in the history of recruiting who were dubbed ‘5-Star QBs.’ While only 1 of those won a Super Bowl and only 20 were drafted in the first round all of those signal callers can offer brilliant insight and advice. Some may be deemed busts by fans, some are transitioning out of football and some are currently playing on Saturdays and Sundays but all have a story and over 50 of them have shared with us some of their most intimate insights into their path from high school to retirement, and everything in between.
In addition, another 50 ambassadors of the game have offered their advice to anyone going through the process of recruiting and quarterback play and their expertise is second to none.
Each week we will take you inside the minds of those who play quarterback, coached quarterbacks or covered quarterbacks at the highest level and our goal is that the stories shared will impact how you view the game. After all, the goal of Y-Option is to bring thoughtful conversation to the world of college football, through the lens of the West Coast.
This week’s contributor of 5-Star Advice is former Stanford QB Tanner McKee who’s now in his 2nd season with the Philadelphia Eagles. While McKee has yet to take a snap in the regular season, he has lead the Eagles in pass attempts and pass yards in both the 2023 and 2024 preseasons. While Philly is playing in Tampa Bay on Sunday, his former Stanford teammates are also on the east coast at Clemson, hoping to go 2-0 in ACC play. With a win, the Cardinal would match their season win total of each of the last 3 years.
From the book “5-Star QB: It’s Not About the Stars, It’s About the Journey”….
When did you get your first scholarship offer?
I was driving in the car, coming back from football practice. I remember I had been getting phone calls from college coaches but I had not received an offer yet. The OC from the University of Hawaii gave me a call while I was in the car and asked how I was doing and how recruiting was going. I told him recruiting was going great and I have been in touch with many coaches but I had not received a scholarship yet. He said, “Well, we would like to change that.” I looked at my Dad and gave him a thumbs up so he knew that they had offered, and we sat in the car pretty excited as the phone call came to an end. After that, we called my Mom and close family members to give them the good news as well.
When you received the 5-Star rating, did you see an uptick in scholarship offers, phone calls, texts and direct messages from coaches? How was your social media impacted?
I believe by then I had already received a decent amount of offers, but I definitely felt like the coaches were keeping in contact with me more frequently.
Did you put some sort of “5-Star QB” in your social media bio? Why?
Yes, I assumed it would be good for recruiting.