Instead of brushing up on his Xs and Os in the days before the National Football League’s April 2017 draft, former University of Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs was assisting college aeronautics teammates during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) competition in Tucson, Arizona. The aerospace engineering major selected in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers was focused on his senior engineering project to design, build, and fly a miniature folding-wing aircraft in the AIAA competition, sponsored by Cessna and Raytheon.
The six-foot, three-inch tall, 216-pound Tennessee standout set school records for career rushing yards and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, as well as single-season records for both. ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay said Dobbs was the best pick the Steelers made in 2017.
How did you get started in aviation? I had a passion for aviation growing up and always enjoyed being around it. As a youngster, I was good at math and science. People say do what you love and what you’re good at. Those are the two things that I love and that I’m good at.
A Tuskegee Airmen Inc. summer aviation camp in seventh grade pointed me toward a career in aerospace engineering.
Why did you become an aerospace engineer? Mom and dad always did a great job of pushing me towards different camps or experiences. I was able to be a part of other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camps growing up. I pushed myself to take advanced placement physics and math courses. It all comes full circle when you get to college.
Will you get your private pilot certificate? At camp, we’d meet and go on aviation field trips each day. One day we went to Dobbins Air Reserve Base and toured the military aircraft. We watched pilots take off, make laps around the airport, and perform touch and goes. We visited Gwinnett County’s Briscoe Field Airport and got to go up in a two-seater airplane and handle the controls. I told my father I would one day like to pursue a pilot certificate. When I have more time, I’ll look into that with him.
Can you compare aviation to sports? There basically is no comparison. The goal in football is as simple as possible, go 10 yards in three plays and score a touchdown. There is no need to make it more complicated than that.
Are there aerodynamics at play in football? A lot of people ask me if I think about aerodynamics when throwing the football, and I say no. Where it does come into play is in your study habits. In engineering, you have to spend a lot of time behind the scenes in the library studying, so there are a lot of correlations between a successful engineer and a successful quarterback. At the end of the day you are a problem solver in both worlds, because you are thinking critically under pressure—and figuring solutions in a short of amount of time.
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