How QB Tyson Bagent rose from zero-star recruit to Division II record-breaker to Chicago Bears rookie starter

Tyson Bagent prides himself on his preparation.

It is, he says, a big part of what has propelled him from being a zero-star high school recruit in West Virginia to the verge of his first NFL start Sunday at Soldier Field.

So when the question came to Bagent on Wednesday during his first news conference as the Chicago Bears Week 7 starting quarterback, he responded as if he had prepared for this too.

What was his backup plan if this dream to play in the NFL didn’t materialize out of his unusual path through Division II football?

“I was going to basically just CrossFit my life away, get as ripped and jacked as I possibly could,” Bagent said without missing a beat. “And be a teacher at Martinsburg High School.”

Martinsburg High, located in eastern West Virginia about 80 miles from Washington, D.C., will have to wait to hire its ripped alumnus.

Bagent, 23, has more odds to defy.

Five years ago, Bagent was beginning his collegiate career at Division II Shepherd, in Shepherdstown, W.Va., his local university and the alma mater of his parents. He had received just two Division I FCS offers — and no FBS offers — despite leading his high school team to two state championships. Less than six months ago, he went unselected in the NFL draft despite a record-breaking collegiate career and solid performance at the Senior Bowl. Seven weeks ago, after a strong training camp and preseason, he beat out veteran PJ Walker to make the Bears roster despite entering camp as the fourth quarterback.

Now, on Sunday when he takes the field against the Las Vegas Raiders, Bagent will become just the fourth undrafted rookie quarterback since 1990 to start within the first seven games of the season, the last Devlin Hodges in 2019, according to NFL Communications.

The duration of this opportunity is unclear. The Bears have said starter Justin Fields’ return from a thumb injury will depend on his grip strength, and coach Matt Eberflus offered an encouraging update Friday, saying Fields is not headed toward injured reserve or surgery as of now.

But regardless of how long Bagent has, he hopes to lead the Bears with a confidence that has impressed teammates and coaches — and that he says comes from being prepared for a moment he and his father, a world champion arm wrestler, always believed was going to arrive.

“Me and my dad really were the only ones who thought that this was going to happen,” Bagent said. “After that, it was just figuring out how I could outwork everybody that maybe had more things than I did, had better facilities and all that stuff. It was really just trying to get it out of the mud, putting a lot of work in the shadows, just so I’d be ready for this week.”

On the short break NFL rookies get between minicamp in June and the beginning of training camp in July, Bagent knew he needed to practice relaying play calls, so he enlisted the help of Michael McCook, a former Shepherd tight end, current assistant and the son of head coach Ernie McCook.

Bagent stood in the middle of the football field wearing an earpiece and took phone calls from his friend.

Michael McCook delivered the play call to Bagent, who then went through the presnap process, approaching the invisible huddle to give the call, putting his imaginary teammates in motion and making adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

“They did it in person, and then if one was on vacation or at the beach, they would do it by telephone,” Ernie McCook said. “And that’s who he is. I told every NFL scout that came in here, ‘You are never going to embarrass yourself by bringing him up, jumping on the table for him. I don’t know if he can make your team. But nobody is ever going to say, why did we bring this guy into camp?’ And I think that’s showing up.”

Ernie McCook watched Bagent grow up. He went to the same church as the Bagent family and taught Bagent’s father, Travis, at Shepherd. He observed the family’s oldest child from afar, noting the way he carried himself with poise as a high school student who was well known in the area because of his prep success.

And as soon as Bagent signed with Shepherd, McCook saw the work the quarterback was willing to put in. Bagent, still a high school senior, arrived at spring practices to stand behind the huddle and observe.

McCook likes to tell a story from July of Bagent’s sophomore year. The Friday before offensive coordinator Tye Hiatt left for a family vacation, Bagent called to see if he could go over to his house to review some things on offense. That night, Hiatt’s wife made dinner and packed the van so the pair could talk football. It was the middle of summer, but Bagent couldn’t wait a week to confer with his coordinator.

Bagent sees work like that as a fuel for his confidence, especially going up against competition that is far superior to what he has faced for most of his career.

“Going through college football, you start to see guys who are really good that don’t make it because they don’t know where they’re going,” Bagent said. “So if you’re not the fastest guy here and you’re not the best athlete on the field, as long as you know where you’re going … or know what everybody’s doing, you’re usually going to operate a little bit better than guys that might be a little bit better than you physically.

“Especially at this level, everybody’s really smart and really fast, so really understanding what’s going on around me has been the only real focal point since I’ve been here.”

When Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy first got to know Bagent while coaching at the Senior Bowl in January, Getsy thought the quarterback was a little nervous. But as he got to know Bagent better throughout the week, he realized Bagent was simply ultrafocused on his preparation.

“It was because he was working his tail off so much by the time we got to Wednesday, Thursday (of that week) I saw a guy ready to rock and roll,” Getsy said.