After years of waiting for his chance, Drew Mestemaker got one shot to be a starting quarterback and made the most of it.

The North Texas walk-on hadn’t started a game at quarterback since his freshman year of high school in Austin, Texas, where he later started at safety and was an all-district punter.

But with Mean Green starting quarterback Chandler Morris transferring to Virginia, Mestemaker made his first start in four years against Texas State in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Friday. And he had a day, racking up 448 total yards, going 26-of-41 passing for 393 passing yards and two TDs and adding nine carries for 55 yards, including a 70-yard TD run.

That run — the second longest by an American quarterback in a bowl game — cut Texas State’s lead to two points, 30-28, with 1:49 left, after which Mestemaker went to the sideline and started throwing up into a trash can.

The freshman’s magic ended when he was intercepted with 12 seconds left, and Texas State held on for its second straight First Responder Bowl win.

Still, North Texas, which had the country’s No. 3 passing offense this season, came away with an incredible story and a potential star.

“That’s the first football game he started at quarterback since the ninth grade, which is just wild to me,” Mean Green coach Eric Morris said of Mestemaker, who backed up current Louisville freshman quarterback Deuce Adams at Vandegrift High in Austin. “To see him go out there and compete the way he did, I mean the kid, he has some traits.”

Morris, who played receiver at Texas Tech under Mike Leach and was later Kliff Kingsbury’s offensive coordinator in Lubbock when Patrick Mahomes played there, had high praise for Mestemaker.

“I’ve been around some good ones, been blessed to be around a lot of NFL guys in my career, and he has some traits that are just as good or better than some of those guys playing on Sundays right now,” Morris said. “I think you saw the athleticism, the accuracy, the decision-making. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 15 years, Drew Mestemaker’s playing football still.”

Bobcats quarterback Jordan McCloud, who previously played for South Florida, Arizona and James Madison before transferring to Texas State ahead of this season, surpassed 10,000 career passing yards by throwing for 307 and a touchdown in Friday’s win, fending off an opponent who entered with 69 career passing yards in Mestemaker.

“Hats off to North Texas and Coach Morris,” Bobcats coach G.J. Kinne said. “Their backup quarterback came out and played lights out. The last couple of weeks have been the craziest I’ve been a part of in college football.”

North Texas was without top wide receiver DT Sheffield (66 catches, 822 yards, 11 TDs), who transferred to Rutgers, and the Mean Green came in as 13.5-point underdogs. Mestemaker, who had attempted five passes in four appearances as a backup this season, was tasked with picking up for Chandler Morris, who threw for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns this season but then left for the Cavaliers last month.

Mestemaker did that and then some:

• His 393 passing yards were the second most in First Responder Bowl history, trailing only Case Keenum’s 532 in 2011.

• His 448 yards of total offense tied Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson for the most by any FBS player this bowl season.

• His 393 passing yards were the most in North Texas bowl history and the most ever for a true freshman in his UNT debut.

“The offense never wavered,” said receiver Damon Ward Jr., who has fought through 12 surgeries since 2019 at North Texas and ended his career Friday. “I’ll remember the resiliency and the brotherhood we have. … Drew took command of the offense. He learned all our schemes and took advantage of his opportunity.”

North Texas recently landed its own quarterback transfer in former Albany star Reese Poffenbarger, who threw for 3,603 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2023 and backed up Cam Ward at Miami this season.

Kinne, however, was impressed by what he saw of Mestemaker as QB1.

“Look, that guy’s athletic, he’s big, obviously you saw the run at the end of the game. I mean I think it’s going to be tough to beat that kid out moving forward,” he said.

Eric Morris agreed, saying after the game that he’s intrigued to see what Mestemaker can do going forward for his team.

“Just watching it right there, he can definitely lead our football program,” he said.