One Man’s Pain Becomes McGough’s Gain

New Green Bay Packers quarterback Alex McGough talked about his crazy path, how he’s learning the offense and the phrase that brings calm in the training camp storm.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jul 28, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Football, like most things in life, can take crazy, unexpected turns.

In 2022, Alex McGough was the starting quarterback for the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions until he was injured. J’Mar Smith stepped in and led the Stallions to the championship.

In 2023, Smith started the opening game but suffered a season-ending injury to his finger. In stepped McGough, who won USFL MVP honors and led the team to another championship.

Without Smith’s injury, McGough would not have been standing in the Green Bay Packers’ locker room following the second practice of training camp on Thursday. He took advantage of an unexpected opportunity in Birmingham, and now he has to take advantage of every opportunity – no matter how few– with the Packers.

“No, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “That’s life. You’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities you get. In this situation, if I get three reps at practice, I’ve got to make those three count. If I get zero, I get zero; I’ve got to get all the mental reps I can get and try to take advantage of each opportunity that you get."

McGough threw four touchdown passes as Birmingham won the USFL title on July 1. He relaxed for a week, knowing NFL opportunities would be coming. And they did. The Packers were interested in him before the 2018 NFL Draft – he went to the Seahawks in the seventh round – and kept in touch with him as he bounced from Seattle to Jacksonville to Houston and back to Seattle.

“I made sure that the Packers were the first workout that I had because they’ve always been interested, they’ve always been calling my agent, keeping up with me,” he said. “I think that goes a long way with building a connection and the fact that they actually do want me. I worked out for them first and ended up signing with them.”

McGough said he considered four opportunities before signing with the Packers on July 18, just a few days before the rest of the quarterbacks were set to report for training camp.

It’s always a challenge for any player who signs just before or during training camp as they compete for a roster spot against players who’ve been running the system for weeks, months and years. That’s especially true for a quarterback. While a receiver only needs to know his route on a particular play, a quarterback needs to know everyone’s route. And he must know them instantly to progress through his reads in a timely manner.

“It’s definitely a challenge. I think it’s going to be incumbent upon himself to make sure he’s studying every night and putting all those hours in just to try to get up to speed as quickly as possible,” coach Matt LaFleur said before Thursday’s practice. “I think we have a lot of resources, whether it’s Tom (Clements) or Connor Lewis, to help him along the way. But he is a smart guy.

“He’s played enough ball, which is encouraging, just getting that experience in that other league and playing at a pretty high level obviously, being the MVP. I think there’s nothing more important than getting that experience, especially at that position, because a lot of guys, shoot, we’ve seen it with Jordan, I mean, doesn’t have a ton of game reps. I don’t care what league you’re playing in, the more you play, usually the more comfortable you feel.”

Alex McGough (Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images)

McGough said he’s getting by on about five hours of sleep per night. There are long days at Lambeau Field and a lot of drawing of plays on his own. It’s a process he’s taking seriously – not just for himself but for his teammates.

“I don’t want to let these guys down,” he said. “I don’t want to go out there and not know the damned – darned – play. That would be an insult. I wouldn’t be doing them any good. I’ve got to be responsible for my own stuff to make sure that they can shine and they can have an opportunity to make the team, as well.”

There have been some difficult moments. There are times, despite all his studying, that he doesn’t have the answer when LaFleur asks him a question. However, on Thursday, he said he felt like he was playing faster than he was on Wednesday.

“You just try to stay above water, honestly,” McGough said. “You get so much information at once. I think the best thing to do is make sure you know the next day’s stuff. You just have to know your stuff and make sure that you’re good enough to go out there and practice and play free.

“Today, I felt a little better. I felt like I was playing faster, playing freer, rather than thinking so much. ‘OK, this is what I have on this play’ rather than, ‘What is the defense doing? How do I beat that?’ Today was better and we’re going to try to gradually improve. There’s going to be new installs and new plays; just got to stay above the water and keep breathing.”

Due to a teammate’s misfortune, McGough’s NFL dreams are breathing. But, as he knows after not getting into a camp last year, nothing is guaranteed. He could be released by the Packers tomorrow and never get another shot in the NFL.

Is that pressure?

“To me, pressure is in the past and in the future,” he said. “There’s no pressure in the moment, in my opinion. If you live in the moment where your feet are, there’s no pressure there. There’s pressure of expectations, there’s pressure of my last chance. There’s a lot of things that could make it a pressure situation but it’s football. If I’m thinking about whatever I could’ve done, the outcome of the game or the outcome of a performance, then I’ll never be at my best.”

One line from a book he read while in the USFL, Chop Wood, Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf, resonated.

“I have a quote that I say all the time. ‘Those who surrender the outcome have the greatest chance of success,’” he continued. “Whatever happens to me, happens to me. As long as I give my best – my best effort, my best everything that I can give – then I did my best and whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.

“That’s what I try to do every day. I remind myself that. I’ve gotten it written down on all my notebooks. Just give your best, whatever happens to you, happens to you. As long as you did your best, there’s nothing else you can do.”