“RIP”: NFL World Mourns Passing of QB Who Started Over Terry Bradshaw at Louisiana Tech

Before the duck calls and reality TV, Phil Robertson’s story started on shoulder pads. And before Terry Bradshaw was a four-time Super Bowl champion with the Steelers or the face of Fox NFL Sunday, he wasn’t the starter at Louisiana Tech. He was the backup. The man ahead of him? Robertson. That’s the part most fans forget… or never knew. Bradshaw remembered that moment clearly. “I knew he didn’t care anything about football,” Bradshaw recalled in the 2022 documentary Terry Bradshaw: Going Deep. Then what did he care for?

“He cared about duck hunting. Two years of sitting behind that guy, and all he wanted to do was shoot stuff.” In the 1960s, Ruston, Louisiana, was home to a QB room that history now reads almost like fiction. Bradshaw, the future No. 1 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, once stood on the sideline, waiting for his chance behind a man who, decades later, would become the bearded face of Duck Dynasty.

Robertson passed away Sunday at the age of 79 after battling Alzheimer’s disease. His family confirmed the news through daughter-in-law Korie Robertson, who posted, “We celebrate today that our father, husband, and grandfather, Phil Robertson, is now with the Lord.” She added that the family would be holding a private service and would share public memorial plans later. The man remembered most for his rugged faith and outdoorsman persona had once said, “From the riverbank to here has been a long journey,” he said. “But we stayed the course and trusted the Almighty.”

Statistically, Robertson’s college career didn’t scream NFL prospect: 43.5% completion rate, 2,237 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, and 34 interceptions. Still, the Washington franchise, now the Commanders, reportedly expressed interest. But Robertson turned it all down. Why? He preferred the woods. “I thought it was a lot more fun to be standing down in some flooded timber with about 35 or 40 mallard ducks comin’ down on top of me,” he told Sports Illustrated in 2013.

By 1968, Robertson had stepped away from the game entirely to pursue a bachelor’s degree in physical education. Bradshaw finally got his chance under center and went on to break almost every passing record at Louisiana Tech. Both men eventually found themselves in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame—Bradshaw in 1988, Robertson in 2020. Not for what they shared on the field, but for where they ended up: one in Canton, the other in camo.

ABSOLUTELY CRAZY

Phil Robertson started over HOFer Terry Bradshaw as the quarterback for Louisiana Tech University’s team during the 1966 & 1967 seasons.

Robertson ended his football career to focus on hunting and fishing—he could have had a #NFL career.

RIP LEGEND pic.twitter.com/rvzhTC4wQc

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) May 26, 2025

Their paths couldn’t have been more different. Bradshaw went on to hoist Lombardi Trophies, while Robertson founded Duck Commander in 1972, laying the groundwork for an empire that exploded into Duck Dynasty four decades later. Still, nearly 60 years removed from their time as teammates, Bradshaw looked back with no bitterness. Just clarity. “I want you to get knocked out so I can start. And he did. And I did!” Bradshaw laughed. It was never about resentment. Just two lives, colliding once in college, then splitting off.

Now, one of them is gone. And while fans remember the show, the beard, the faith, and the duck calls, those who knew the full story might pause and remember that before all of that, Phil Robertson once held the clipboard Terry Bradshaw could only watch from behind.

Fans can’t believe they lost their Duck Dynasty guy

We’re not just talking about a reality TV icon here — we’re talking about a man who kept Terry Bradshaw on the bench. “RIP Legend,” one wrote, and that pretty much set the tone. Before Phil Robertson ever grew the beard or blew a duck call on national TV, he was slinging footballs at Louisiana Tech with a cannon for an arm. “That booger could chuck that football,” one coach remembered. And just like that, fans realized they’d lost more than just the Duck Dynasty guy; they’d lost a lowkey college football marvel.

Then came the disbelief. “NOT DUCK DYNASTY GUY” another fan shouted from the digital stands. Phil was a guy Bear Bryant once praised as one of the best QB prospects he’d seen. Robertson may not have had NFL stats, but when your delivery’s faster than Bradshaw’s and your coach has to lock you down to stop you from duck hunting at 4 a.m., you’ve got that special kind of football folklore.

And it’s that wild contradiction that fans keep circling back to — this QB who gave it all up for the woods. “My childhood is slowly going away,” someone posted. Because Phil would hang a deer in his apartment doorway, toss squirrel tails out of his pockets, and still throw for 300 yards in a game where most teams were allergic to the forward pass. His game was ahead of its time, just not ahead of his own passions. The man literally stopped mid-practice to admire a flight of geese overhead.

“Dude chose ducks over touchdowns. Respect.” And how do you not respect that? He wasn’t playing for the scouts. He was playing for the thrill. The same rush he got watching mallards rain down through the trees. But the man made a choice: “I’m going for the ducks, you can go for the bucks.” he told Bradshaw.

And that draws a curtain on Phil’s life, too. Let that be the line to define and set a tone for the coming generation as well. One must do what the heart says. Rest in Power, Duck Commander.

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