Joshua Lawrence Nunes (born August 22, 1990) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

. He medically retired after a weightlifting injury that ruptured his pectoralis major tendon.

Early years

Nunes attended

Upland High School Upland High School is a four-year public high school located in the city of Upland, California. The school was established in 1955 as part of the Chaffey Joint Union High School District, and since 1988 it has been a member of the Upland Unified ...

Upland, California Upland is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States on the border with neighboring Los Angeles County. The municipality is located at an elevation of 1,242 feet (379 m). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 79,040 ...

. During his career he threw for 6,306 passing yards and 54

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. He was ranked as the 13th best pro-style quarterback recruit in his class by

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College career

Nunes spent 2009 to 2011 as a backup to

Andrew Luck Andrew Austen Luck (born September 12, 1989) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. One of the most highly touted amateur prospects during his c ...

. On August 22, 2012, Nunes was named the starting quarterback for the 2012 season, beating out Brett Nottingham and

Kevin Hogan Kevin Michael Hogan (born October 20, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football for Stanford University and was their starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chie ...

. As the starting quarterback, Nunes led the No. 21 Cardinal to an upset of No. 2

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

as he threw the go-ahead 37 yard touchdown pass to

Zach Ertz Zachary Adam Ertz (born November 10, 1990) is an American football tight end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft and later won Supe ...

in the fourth quarter. The next week, however, the Cardinal suffered a loss against unranked

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in a game where Nunes was unable to score an offensive touchdown. After nine games as a starter, amid criticisms about his inconsistency, Nunes was replaced by redshirt freshman

, who eventually led Stanford to a defeat of No. 1

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

championship and a Rose Bowl victory. During a

bench press The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...

workout in February 2013, Nunes dropped the weights on his chest, rupturing his

pectoralis major muscle The pectoralis major () is a thick, fan-shaped or triangular convergent muscle, situated at the chest of the human body. It makes up the bulk of the chest muscles and lies under the breast. Beneath the pectoralis major is the pectoralis minor, a ...

. As a result of the accident, Nunes announced that he has medically retired.

Personal life

Nunes founded Believe Cross in 2015 with his Father, Tim, and works at the company with both his Father and Mother, Debbie. Believe Cross makes handmade, wooden crosses as an expression of Christian faith.

References

External links

Stanford Cardinal bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Josh 1990 births Living people American football quarterbacks Stanford Cardinal football players People from Upland, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from San Bernardino County, California