Big blow to Dogs offense: Mettenberger kicked off team!

Zach Mettenberger has been kicked off the team. (Bob Andres / AJC)

Zach Mettenberger has been kicked off the team. (Bob Andres / AJC)

UGA just made the announcement this afternoon. Not many details, but here it is:

“University of Georgia redshirt freshman quarterback Zach Mettenberger has been dismissed from the Bulldog football team according to a Sunday announcement by UGA head coach Mark Richt.

According to Richt, the dismissal is a result of violation of team rules.

A graduate of Oconee County High School in Watkinsville, Ga., Mettenberger had been issued a minimum one-game suspension by Richt following an alcohol-related arrest in March.”

Obviously, new details must have surfaced from the incident earlier this spring in which Mettenberger was arrested for underage drinking and having false IDs. Those don’t seem like charges that would get you kicked off the team, and it’s hard to believe Richt would have let him go through spring practice if he was going to dismiss him just for that.

And, of course, Mettenberger finished the spring with the best showing by a Georgia QB at G-Day.

Anyway, this leaves Georgia with just two quarterbacks until Hutson Mason gets on campus in August. Dogs fans better hope Aaron Murray really is the real deal!

331 comments Add your comment

11-3 GT

April 18th, 2010
7:05 pm

QB JOSHUA NESBITT
…………………………….for HEISMAN

1eyedJack

April 18th, 2010
7:07 pm

Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.

A year at Georgia Military would do him wonders.

Small Johnson

April 18th, 2010
7:07 pm

Ok

As we post everyone take a guess as to what the infraction might be

The winner gets to have their picture taken with METT and a signed ball at the first game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DancinDawg

April 18th, 2010
7:10 pm

Murray Sucks IMO. Richt just didn’t like Mett cause he likes cold beer….give me a break! UGA football is set back another 2 years.

Cosmos

April 18th, 2010
7:10 pm

All I can say is WOW. There has to be more information to this story that will come out later. Stay tuned.

Big L

April 18th, 2010
7:12 pm

Christian Lemay baby. Go get him.

Small Johnson

April 18th, 2010
7:15 pm

Dancin Dawg thinks its another cold brew

I still think he was driving the cab

Other opinions?

cindy Hendrix

April 18th, 2010
7:20 pm

I hate it about Mettenberger he looked like the best QB on Gday. But there has to be more here than we know about something major must have happened for Richt to dismiss him from the team we will have to wait & see
Mon what led up to it. Murray you are really going to have to work harder now since HM arrives in August he could give you a run for the QB job I ‘ve read he’s like Eric Zier if this is true we need to work with him & get him on the field we could rotate him & Murray. I hope Mettenberger learns from his mistakes sorry for his family & especially his mom since she works for the athletic dept. But he has to abide by the rules like the rest of the players we are trying to turn things around this yr 3 new coaches & new players &tring to learn a new defense everyone is going to have to be more discplined. Hang in dawg fans we’ve worked too hard so far to let this stop us have faith in our coaching staff & lets see how HM does when he gets here & as always GATA
GO DAWGS SIC EM WOOF WOOF!!!!!!!!! Cindy

Coldbeer & Fast Women

April 18th, 2010
7:25 pm

Nice take on the situation DancinDawg. Sounds like Mettenberg is the kind of guy that’s perfect for UGA’s football.

hedgepruner

April 18th, 2010
7:26 pm

LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER ASS WHOOPING IN ATHENS by PAUL JOHNSONS TEAM……..we GT fans are loving this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thug BALL ,,,,top 10 here we come !!!!!!!!!

Delusional Dawg

April 18th, 2010
7:27 pm

It’s gonna be another 7-5 season (hopefully, if Murray doesn’t go down). Wonder when the natives will start getting restless…

4 ncs are better than 1

April 18th, 2010
7:30 pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! LOSERS!!!!!!!!

4 ncs are better than 1

April 18th, 2010
7:31 pm

THUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SnoopDawg

April 18th, 2010
7:32 pm

I heard his Mettenberger’s mom asked for a raise and CMR got ticked, so he kicked the kids ass off the team.

4 ncs are better than 1

April 18th, 2010
7:32 pm

THIS MADE MY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small Johnson

April 18th, 2010
7:33 pm

Seems like everyone thinks it was the cold beer

Any other thoughts on what Mett did

SEC FANATIC

April 18th, 2010
7:34 pm

Makes you wonder if this is the reason Richt wouldn’t name a starter. Must have been something in the wind that was confirmed. Remember, it took Richt a week or so to even make the decision to suspend Berger for the “standard” one game, so maybe something else from that original incident reared it’s ugly head and could not be swept away or “smoothed over”.

4 ncs are better than 1

April 18th, 2010
7:35 pm

Face it, you weren’t going to be that good anyway!!!!!!!!!!! The downward spiral continues!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t forget 25-6!!!!!!!!!

4 ncs are better than 1

April 18th, 2010
7:37 pm

Keep recruiting those thugs, richt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 ncs are better than 1

April 18th, 2010
7:42 pm

Can you say WEED WHACKER BOWL?

kauai dawg

April 18th, 2010
7:45 pm

Tough day for Metz. Hope he lands on his feet and learns a great lesson. I also hope that AM is ready. Now he has to be unless Huttie coming in is ready. WOW how our position changed in a few hours….. still

Go DAWGS!

30-24 sounds so good!

Small Johnson

April 18th, 2010
7:46 pm

4 ncs are better than 1

Hey we will qualify late in the year for the weed whacker bowl after we beat TECH

BLAH HA HA HA HA AHA HA HAHA AH

Now whats your thoughts on the brand of beer Mett chose to get in trouble with

Mike S

April 18th, 2010
7:47 pm

Can you say 30-24, 8 of 9. I knew you could!

Gabulldog72

April 18th, 2010
7:47 pm

I think it is sad for a kid to throw his future at UGA away. If I were Richt and Bobo I would be in Rochelle in the morning trying to get Nick Marshall to verbally committ. He is going to make some team a strong contender in the near future.

atl xmen

April 18th, 2010
7:54 pm

murry is the better of the two anyways and kudos to him for staying out of trouble. i feel bad for Mett but he had his chance. he wasnt going to play anyways as long as murry was healthy. and logan is a nice back up to have as well. so no worries from me. focus on who we have now and hope Metts learns from his mistake.

atl xmen

April 18th, 2010
8:00 pm

and trust me and mark richt for that matter Bill, this is not a big blow for the GA Bulldogs offense. everyone who knows anything about football caopuld tell that Murry is the better QB

Me

April 18th, 2010
8:00 pm

Where’s “patrick’ with all of his spring stats?? Looks like he’s gonna have to start looking spouting off high school stats with Hudson Mason coming in. Of course he’ll probably say what I expect to hear from alot of Dawg fans over the next day or so…that Murray was “the man” anyway.

Small Johnson

April 18th, 2010
8:03 pm

No I won’t

still think Mett was the man

Oh well either driving the cab was the problem or he had too much to drink

atl xmen

April 18th, 2010
8:03 pm

tech is so bad this year that we could be them with there QB …techs defense will suck again…i love beating tech and watching the tech faithful cry and break there glasses after stomping them..

CHARLOTTE DAWG

April 18th, 2010
8:05 pm

So we are all wondering what happened, right? Something recent right? Something even last night maybe, right?

Here’s what I think happened. RIcht finally exhaulted Murray as the #1 for now and Mett flipped as he thinks he was entitled due to his play and being a local kid(subliminally).

And then Richt said take a hike. Anyone with me on this? Hey, if we are not given information, people will speculate.

Not ruling this out until I get more facts. Anyone agree?

Dawg 39

April 18th, 2010
8:06 pm

CMR continues to have the most specific set of rules of any SEC school. That is something all Dawgs should be proud of. And yes, Mett may well end up playing for one of our rivals. They are all more lenient than CMR. He does have complete control of the team as the players continue to learn.

Also, I always believed Mett would end up transferring anyway, rather than being the back up QB for the next 4 years. He is still a future NFL QB.

Ed

April 18th, 2010
8:10 pm

Richt has put up with a lot of foolishness from players over the years. I have to think that there’s a real good reason for this move, beyond the usual teenage stupidity. Too bad, but hopefully the young man gets his life back together.

My New York accent is so ugly....

April 18th, 2010
8:17 pm

After the Montez Robinson debacle, CMR better fess up as to why he just kicked off our strongest arm; underage drinking and fake ID’s are part of college, we have kept morons on the team for doing much worse.

This f*ckin sucks.

Mikey

April 18th, 2010
8:17 pm

Tough time for any QB with “berger” in their last name…

Preston

April 18th, 2010
8:20 pm

Hopefully Mettenberger will learn from this and move on to another school and stay out of trouble. CMR did what he had to do and I’m proud of him for it. But good luck to Mett as well. I know I made mistakes when I was his age so I’m not going to crucify the kid. It’ll be interesting to see where he transfers to.

athdog

April 18th, 2010
8:28 pm

Feel for the kids’ mom. Long time employee of the athletic department, dating back to Dooley’s Dogs, I believe. Maybe he learns, matures, and gets another shot at a scholarship by another program.
Meanwhile, congrats to coach Richt for what was obviously a tough, gut wrenching decision. And, does it strike the rest of you ‘Dog people as strange that a large portion of posts on this ‘Junkyard Blawg’ are always from Yellow Jacket nerds?

UGA = loserville

April 18th, 2010
8:31 pm

Hey UGA: 1 down and 2 to go! Typical UGAG problems. Way to go Mettlnloser: LMFAO!

Coach Mark Richt announced Sunday that touted redshirt freshman Zach Mettenberger was kicked off the team for violating team rules.

Mettenberger threw two touchdowns in Georgia’s April 10 spring game but already was facing at least a one-game suspension after being arrested on alcohol charges during spring break. The team didn’t reveal if Mettenberger was involved in another incident, or if his dismissal from the team was the result of more details becoming known from his arrest.

The Bulldogs now have a two-man race for starting quarterback: redshirt freshman Aaron Murray and junior Logan Gray, who last year backed up Joe Cox during a disappointing 8-5 season.

The 18-year-old Mettenberger was arrested March 7 in Lowndes County and charged with underage consumption and possession of alcohol, possessing fake identification and disorderly conduct-obstruction. The school never made him available to comment on the charges.

UGA = loserville

April 18th, 2010
8:34 pm

Great Job UGA! Keep up the tradition. Hey, maybe he will transfer to Idaho State and then their sorry school can beat you. I know when you transfer, you have to sit out a year, but I am sure they will make room for Mettlinboooooooozer! Sick em Woof Woof Woof

Mett's fake ID

April 18th, 2010
8:34 pm

It’s all good, Mett can use one of his fake IDs to get back into practice.

South Ga Dawg

April 18th, 2010
8:34 pm

What an absolute moron!! Obviously did not realize the oppportunity he had.

UGA = loserville

April 18th, 2010
8:35 pm

Hey Athdog: You all suck azz! THWG! Go Gators chompem up as usual!

san diego dawg

April 18th, 2010
8:36 pm

Every year, a few of the draft’s top prospects appear on the confidential list for failed NFL Scouting Combine drug tests.
FOXSports.com has learned the two biggest names for 2010: Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer and Southern California tight end Anthony McCoy.

Dwyer tested positive in February for amphetamines, but this appears unlikely to hurt his standing as a late first-round/early second-round selection in this week’s draft.

CHARLOTTE DAWG

April 18th, 2010
8:39 pm

You know what is funny about Tech fans? They know more about UGA football than we’ll ever know about the bug program. I bet you 90% of the Bulldog nation doesn’t know 3 QB’s on the entire Tech roster.

But here are the Tech fans……so interested in us. It is just so funny…the envy I mean.

There is a golf tourney I play in every year with a great deal of Tech fans. And for some odd reason, they listen to the MARK RICHT SHOW. THE MARK RICHT SHOW.

I simply asked “why”? Why would you listen to a show about UGA football. And then I quickly answered my own question.

Just so funny. But please continue to show your interest Tech fans. hahahahahahaahahahaha

Reality

April 18th, 2010
8:39 pm

Richt continues to recruit thugs and anti-respectful players and this is the result. Part of recuiting NEEDS to be about the values and morals of the kids. Otherwise, you end up with this crap.

Way to go UGA. Keep making the State of GA proud.

FLMoonpie

April 18th, 2010
8:40 pm

Well I’ll be damned. It looks like brother Mark is actually trying to make this bunch conform to a set of rules. It’s unfortunate that some of these 5-star primadonas think they are above rules, regulations and the law in general.

Reality

April 18th, 2010
8:41 pm

@san diego dawg -

Why mention Dwyer? He had gotten prior APPROVAL for taking his prescription from the NFL. He did NOTHING wrong.

You are a loser.

FLMoonpie

April 18th, 2010
8:43 pm

In the end this is what you get when you place your trust and faith in Rivals and Scouts.com.

Tim Rupert

April 18th, 2010
8:51 pm

Zach’s first mistake was not going to Fla, He would still be able to come in after the first two quarters. Go Dawgs.

had a lot to learn...

April 18th, 2010
8:53 pm

Met had a lot to learn from the time he entered last spring, and actually improved greatly, but he was still a year away from putting it all together. It’s a shame that a kid who grew up loving UGA, received a full ride, improved greatly, could have this happen. If he really wants to play this year doesn’t he have to go to a JC, or is there a school in another division where he can play a year, then transfer to a Div 1 or Div 2 school following that season. If he wasn’t named starter, and he didn’t take it too well, my guess would be that he was going to transfer anyway. I sort of hope it’s that he got beat out and spouted off about it to CMR, this is better for him rather than getting in trouble with the law again. Moving from HS sports to college sports is a tough adjustment for most kids (very humbling).

jasont13

April 18th, 2010
8:53 pm

4NCS are better than 1, your once again need to do research before you post any of your comments. UGA has 5 count them 5 recognized National Championships. Its also funny that something pertaining to football you bring up a baseball score cause you can’t bring up the football score cause your best team in decades peed their pants against a bad UGA team. Oh and last but not least, Murray has looked good in every scrimmage and practice with the exception of one and that was this past years spring game. Where Mett has not looked all that great until this years spring game.