The Galloping Ghost by Red Grange, Crazylegs by Elroy Hirsch, Beast Mode by Marshawn Lynch, and Primetime by Jerome Bettis are just some of the nicknames regarded by the NFL as among the best.
Add to that the monicker bestowed to Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs. The former 135th draft pick is called Passtronaut.
One usually receives a nickname if he is good at what he does.
Dobbs is doing that now for the Vikings. He earned the league's respect after being signed as a replacement for QB1 Kirk Cousins, who had a season-ending Achilles injury.
His nickname, though, is not something based on his play on the field. That is more about his time with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
He was an exemplary student-athlete when he was in college.
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Did Joshua Dobbs work for NASA?
Joshua Dobbs' career in the NFL is average, transferring from one team to another in the last six years. He has played for a total of six teams before the Vikings.
When it comes to academics, though, his profile stands out.
He is not an astronaut. Not yet.
He majored in aerospace engineering at the University of Tennessee and was a consistent top honor student. In 2017, the university honored him with the Torchbearer Award, which the school gives to top undergraduate students who recorded accomplishments in the community and academics.
He did that while quarterbacking for the Tennessee Volunteers football in the SEC East. He set a 23-12 record as the main QB, the fifth most in university history. He also recorded 9,360 yards of total offense (7,138 passing, 2,160 rushing, 62 receiving), third behind the records set by Peyton Manning (11,020) and Casey Clausen (9,577).
Joshua Dobbs Degree, Passtronaut Nickname
The Passtronaut nickname's origin is easily found in Joshua Dobbs' degree, but it only caught on during his time with the Arizona Cardinals last season.
He has aerospace engineering experience to back up the nickname they blessed him with.
Dobbs shared that he interned with NASA twice and found it similar to quarterbacking in the NFL.
"I was in the instrumentation one day. Another day I was at the launch pad. Another day I was at launch cove center. It was a very broad experience, and I was able to see the entire experience of everything that goes on down there," Dobbs said in an interview with the NFLPA.
The 28-year-old excelled in his schooling, and however he did that, he is trying to apply the same process for his time on the NFL field.
"We're not out there doing engineering equations on the field, but I had to cram for a lot of engineering tests and procrastinated a little bit in college," he said.
"This is very similar to that. Having to process a lot of information definitely prepared me for situations like this."
Right now, the Vikings are above .500 in the table at 6-5, although they lost their last one. They will need more of Dobbs' critical thinking skills come crunch time.
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