Bears News: Bagent: "I feel as if I’ve proved that I belong" |
CHICAGO - Everyone loves an underdog story. I think it’s fair to say that if by Tuesday, August 29 at 3 p.m., if Bagent is on the Bears’ 53-man roster, then that would be one amazing underdog story for an undrafted quarterback coming from a Division II school.
He has currently put himself in a position to achieve that ending, and he feels he has done everything he can to make it a reality. “I feel as if I’ve proved that I belong and that I belong in the league,” Bagent stated. “But I think more than anything, like, you know, all the hope and motivation I’m providing for my siblings and the people back home is really what I kind of sit back and think about when I think about just the whole camp and preseason and how just everything has fallen into place.” He is humble, coming from the town of Martinsburg, West Virginia. Coming out of Martinsburg High School, he went to Shepherd University, a short 20 minutes down the road from his hometown. Bagent rewrote the record books for Division II football with 159 passing touchdowns in his four seasons. Then, he celebrated his first touchdown in Soldier Field in the Bears’ loss to the Buffalo Bills. Especially with everything it took for him to get to where he is, that touchdown was an addicting movement that he wants to experience again. “It was loud. It was fun,” Bagent said. “It, really, home or away, just being able to get in the endzone whether I’m throwing the ball or running the ball is pretty electrifying and kind of that addicting feeling, and one of the reasons why, you know, I’m so addicted to football, is, you know, little moments like that.” Of course, everyone makes mistakes, and he had one against the Bills - throwing his first interception in the NFL. Luckily, it came in a preseason game instead of a regular-season game. That is one thing that Bagent sees as a positive because it is something to learn from, but it is certainly a play that bothered him greatly following the game. “I think, in a sense, it’s good to get the first one kind of out of the way because those things happen in football,” Bagent explained. “Just going forward, kind of right now, despite all the success that’s been had and all the good plays, kind of what I’m thinking about right now is just how I should have progressed out to the flat on that play.” Coming into training camp, Bagent was seen as the No. 3 quarterback at best. There was not really a sense of having quarterback competition for the Bears, with Justin Fields secured at No. 1 and PJ Walker at No. 2. Bagent made this camp a competition, and it appears to many that it is a competition that he will win. Fans will know by Tuesday at 3 p.m. if he has won that spot for the No. 2 quarterback. If he does secure that spot, he will be on the Bears’ season opener roster at Soldier Field against the Green Bay Packers (3:25 p.m./FOX). The Packers will be playing with a new quarterback, Jordan Love, who has little experience in regular season games. This should provide a good opportunity for the entire team to get back into regular season form.
