France: Marseille Blue Stars sign veteran QB Brandon Gwinner

| American Football | 01/14/2025

The Marseille Blue Stars have announced the signing of veteran quarterback Brandon Gwinner for the 2025 French D1 Elite league season.

Gwinner is a well-traveled international signal-caller who has suited up for the Porvoon Butchers for the past three seasons in the Finnish Maple League and the Wasa Royals the two seasons before that.

The 6-3, 220-pound quarterback 27 year old helped lead the Butchers to the Maple League title in 2023 and to the semifinals this past season. He was the second leading passer in the Maple League in 2024 after throwing for 2,477 yards and 26 touchdowns. In 2023, he led the league in passing yardage with 2,994 yards and 29 touchdowns and was voted the top quarterback in the league. In 2022, his first season with the Butchers, he threw for 1,890 yards and 24 scores while rushing for 692 yards and another 12 touchdowns.

During his first Finnish season in 2020, Gwinner was the fourth leading passer in the shortened season, throwing for 732 yards and seven touchdowns in five games, while rushing for 364 yards on 68 carries and eight touchdowns for the Wasa Royals.

Gwinner then went on to lead the Bialystok Lowlanders to the Polish championship game that same year, prior to returning to the Wasa Royals in 2021. During the 2021 season with the Royals, Gwinner threw for 1,158 yards and nine touchdowns while throwing 10 interceptions. The dual-threat quarterback also added 419 yards and three touchdowns on the ground for a Wasa team in rebuilding mode.

In 2019, he began his international career playing for the Brisbane Rhinos in Australia. In Queensland, Gwinner threw for over 30 touchdowns and was named team MVP.  He started the 2020 season with the Yeditepe Eagles of the Turkish League of American Football and managed to play and win one game before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the season.

Before heading abroad, Gwinner spent four seasons at Morrisville State (NCAA D3). At Morrisville, he threw for 4,215 yards and 34 touchdowns in 26 games.

The Blue Stars reached the semifinals in France in 2024 and the championship game in 2023 where they were defeated by the Thonon Black Panthers.

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