Big blow to Dogs offense: Mettenberger kicked off team!
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!
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331 comments Add your comment
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2010
7:18 am
The team? What about the serious blow this does to the EGO of certain bloggers. I worry about them.
Bud
April 19th, 2010
7:19 am
This gives Mettinberger a way out to go start for another team. It’s a mutual ploy.
toole
April 19th, 2010
7:23 am
I was told Mr. Mettenberger was not too friendly with a female acquaintance in Lowndes County that March evening he was arrested on the other charges. I heard that some felony charges are what he is facing. More details to come…………..
Montez Robinson
April 19th, 2010
7:25 am
We still Thug-U, soulja boy.
CHDawg
April 19th, 2010
7:29 am
Enough of attacking Murray or Richt over this incident! It is insane to think Richt would purposefully dump Mettenberger because he did better than his favorite son on GDay. I guarantee that both of them would have gotten a lot of playing time next year, and if Mett won on the field, and Murray didn’t–Mett would have been CMR’s man. Richt’s future at UGA depends on winning, not on playing favorites with inferior players! It is also very likely that Richt’s bosses at UGA weighed in with strong opinions–even if it was his decision. Finally, give Murray a break here boys: I think he will be our next Heisman winner, but I’d be the first to admit I’ve been wrong before. One thing is sure, regardless of which QB you liked, UGA will have a lot less depth at the position because of this incident. Now, let’s hope Mett didn’t do something that is going to land him in jail, and that he (and a lot of other players) learn a lesson, and that he gets his life back in order. Although I hate losing and love winning, when winning takes precedence over developing Godly character in these young men, this is the kind of stuff that happens. Richt has been one of the best in character development and winning. Don’t throw him under the bus because you are frustrated that your favorite in the QB race made a terrible mistake.
FORTY ONE POINTS to your seventeen points
April 19th, 2010
7:36 am
Good morning mutties—what’s new? LOL!
#2 BAMA FAN
April 19th, 2010
7:42 am
Three yards and a cloud of dust will be motto this year for the dawgs.
SEC FANATIC
April 19th, 2010
7:50 am
I laugh and laugh when I read these doggies talk about how tough it is to get into UGA and how it adversely affects recruiting for them AND Vandy. Try picking up a “U.S News and World Report” ranking mag on colleges next time your in the supermarket…that is, if you’re even capable of reading it. Nowhere NEAR Vandy and definitely behind UF.
Bill King is a........
April 19th, 2010
7:51 am
I live in Valdosta and no one around here has heard of anything else that happened that night. I believe he was charged with 5 counts. I have to believe if he had gotten into something iwth a female student here in town……that would have been out all over town at least. Maybe not so much in the papers or on the blogs…….but Valdosta is a small town when it comes to something like that and i would like to think that something like that would’ve been out already. It might have happened but damn….they sure did keep it quiet.
SEC FANATIC
April 19th, 2010
7:53 am
Now the whole season will be a “blackout”…
SEC FANATIC
April 19th, 2010
7:57 am
In that picture they always show of him with Murray and Gray, he is the one holding the helmet with the big “G” on the side…stands for “Goober”…or maybe just “Gone”.
Dawg 39
April 19th, 2010
7:59 am
Do the crime: Do the time. CMR is consistent with his rules and the consequences for breaking those rules.
If a dismissal was not warranted, there would not have been a dismissal. I am proud to be a Dawg Fan.
UT?
April 19th, 2010
8:01 am
If he is kicked off the team, does that automatically release him from his scholarship, and is he free to sign with anyone? Or does UGA have to approve of his transfer? Basically, is he free to sign with another SEC team, say UT? That could be a double blow… UGA loses him and UT picks him up? If ole Lane was still there, I would be sure they would take him. With Dooley, not so sure, but does make for an interesting question. Is it possible?
GaGator
April 19th, 2010
8:06 am
Looks like Auburn gets another starting QB, they are starting
a Gator dismissal this year.
mick6701
April 19th, 2010
8:09 am
Yellow Jacket fan here. You have to give Richt props for sticking to his principals. Unless of course, the university forced him to do it.
SSDog
April 19th, 2010
8:39 am
SEC Fanatic – there is a huge difference between admission requirements and US News and World Report overall university rankings, but don’t let the facts get in the way of youe diatribes. It’s a sad day for Mett and his family and I hope he can come back from this.
ol' seadawg
April 19th, 2010
8:39 am
I must hand it to some our Tech and Gator friends, who’ve actually said they respect CMR for this decision and we shouldn’t gloat when their hard times come and they will. That was HUGE decision by CMR. Some of our politicians could learn a lesson!
Preston
April 19th, 2010
8:45 am
UT?, it’s my understanding that since he is already enrolled at UGA, he’ll have to transfer to a lower division if he wants to play this season. He can transfer to another FBS team if he chooses, but he’ll have to sit out a year. Seems like that’s what Perilloux had to do when Miles finally kicked his butt out of town a couple of years ago. My guess is that he’ll transfer to another big time school and sit out until next season to enhance his NFL resume’.
WonderDawg
April 19th, 2010
8:45 am
Just hope he doesn’t goe to a SEC East team. He’s gonna be a star . . . somewhere.
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2010
8:51 am
BuLLdawg, I guess what you are saying is that you appreciate Mark Richt taking stand on discipline at YOUR university football team, although it came in the form of a player that you claim you wanted to start all along last year, despite saying last year that his skills were so bad that we had wasted a scholarship, but you still “all along” wanted him to play over Murray, whom you endorced as a backup over Gray who you thought to be a better starter than any of them, now of cource is simply another bad character that you calim the staff recruits and should have know that despite being a straight A white boy from a great family whose mom happens to be one of the finest ladies on the AD staff? That about right? And of cource your wonderful insight as to why the “starter” being named in April maybe wasnt quite as critical as you claimed it was just hours ago.
Or did you even have a point?
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2010
8:55 am
UT, the release of a scholarship does not superceed the NCAA rule on sitting out a year at another D-1. That’s not a coaches call. You can however bet your last dollar that Richt will work tirelessly to try to help him find a new place to start all over.
This is "news?"
April 19th, 2010
8:56 am
Yaaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn.
Same ole, same ole…out of Athens.
Move along.
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2010
9:02 am
On a lighter note, way to go Golf and Equestrian teams!
hey yo!
April 19th, 2010
9:10 am
I agree. If Richt were gonna kick em off the team for what we already know about he would’ve already done it. Gotta be some new information that came up.
mcdaviddawg
April 19th, 2010
9:13 am
The end of the Richt era. The chances of a good season were already poor and now take a definite turn for the worse.
UGA Boots QB Candidate Mettenberger « MrSEC.com
April 19th, 2010
9:18 am
[...] The Georgia quarterback race took a shocking turn yesterday when Mark Richt dismissed G-Day star Zach Mettenberger from the Bulldogs’ team.Mettenberger was expected to be suspended for the season-opener due to an alcohol-related arrest in early March. That arrest resulted in charges of underage possession, disorderly conduct, obstruction, and two counts of having a fake ID. Richt had said that he expected Mettenberger to face the UGA-mandated one-game suspension for an alcohol arrest, but he left open the possibility for a stiffer penalty. According to Georgia SID Claude Felton, there was no new incident involving the redshirt freshman QB, so it looks like Richt finally got all of the details surrounding Mettenberger’s arrest.Police in Remerton, Georgia continue to investigate Mettenberger’s arrest six weeks after it occurred, so it seems that there’s more to this case than a college kid tossing back a few too many.Mettenberger was locked in a three-man battle to win Georgia’s starting quarterback job. While coaches have said the signal-callers were still very much bunched together, Mettenberger won the support of fans with a good showing at Georgia’s G-Day spring game. (All it takes is one look in a spring game for fans to decide on their choice for QB, even if Mettenber was working with the second-team units.)The dismissal moves Aaron Murray (probably) to the top of the UGA depth chart.Richt also dismissed linebacker Montez Robinson in the past month, leaving the Dawgs thin at the OLB position.For a guy that isn’t supposed to be tough on crime, Richt certainly seems to be making some tough decisions this spring. Mettenberger played Little League baseball with Richt’s son, so he’s known the young man and his family for several years. And the quarterback’s mother is an administrative associate in Georgia’s football office.Jeff Schultz of The AJC — who has criticized Richt in the past for his leniency — is praising him for his current tough-guy approach.Fans, meanwhile, are obviously more worried about the effect the dismissal might have on the team’s offense. As this fan/blogger writes, Bulldog fans “better hope Aaron Murray really is the real deal!” [...]
Richt Rules
April 19th, 2010
9:19 am
Richt needs to clean house of all the troublemakers and attitude problems on the roster to turn the program around. That old fsu model of letting the players run wild doesn’t work anymore.
Evansdawg
April 19th, 2010
9:28 am
On the bright side….Logan Gray has had to really compete for the job, and step his game up a bit in a three-way competition. Murray and Gray gained ability throughout that three-way race. I can see both QBs complementing each other next year. With a solid OL, things will be fine.
gt4ever
April 19th, 2010
9:35 am
Gotta love the bulldawg fans….. You guys will be OK, your not going to win any NC’s anyway… You will be lucky to finish 2nd in your division, but you did win the ACC last year, right…??? Just think positive and maybe, just maybe you will be on top of the ACC once again…
ATL XMAN
April 19th, 2010
9:36 am
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..
the whole football team knows that Metts was 2nd best to Murry. Murry’s arm is fine and he has a quick release too. Murry beat him out fair and square so stop it with ” this is a big blow to the bulldog offense. metts didnt progress as fast as Murry did. Murry is the next stafford with how fast he will learn to be a great QB. i can see alot of drew breese in him too..the boy can play qb.
bulldawg go look up richt record since he has been at uga and then compare him to the other coaches in football..that sounds like fun..
gt4ever
April 19th, 2010
9:37 am
Richt Rules, If he were to clean house simply because of this ABSURD drinking law for underage drinking, then He probably couldn’t field a team….. Good grief guys, don’t any of you guys remember your college years….
ATL XMAN
April 19th, 2010
9:38 am
GT4ever…tech will be in trouble when gailys last recruits leave and all your team has are a bunch off runningbacks at the qb position…haha,, no more 10 win records for you guys…i love it…
gt4ever
April 19th, 2010
9:38 am
and then there was ATL XMEN, keep drinking the koolaide dude…….
ATL XMAN
April 19th, 2010
9:39 am
he didnt clean house because of metts drinking…he suspended him one game ..we dont know the whole story
ATL XMAN
April 19th, 2010
9:40 am
if you put yours down..tech will be really bad again this year..hope to see your post then
Laughing out loud at idiots
April 19th, 2010
9:40 am
Morons, if any of you actually watched the G day game what did you see in Murray to make you believe he is an SEC level QB? He is short and slow and threw a stupid pick because he couldnt see over his line. UGA is in deep poop if he beats Gray out and maybe even if Gray wins the job.
gt4ever
April 19th, 2010
9:43 am
I hope we will be as bad as we were last year, 11-3 is pretty bad…. Man, you need to get off the Budweiser, it’s way too early… Yes, you will see my post next year. You guys beat us fair and square last year, but from here on out it will be competitive, anybody can win…. Your domination is over!
LAKE OCONEE DAWG
April 19th, 2010
9:43 am
Diamond Dog’s Parole Officer:
Nice try, but Coach Richt runs this football program….Now go back to your Techie Boards, and get the damn dungeons and dragons lined up for the 12:30 Saturday kickoff for the spring game….You still toting that November 28 AR$E whipping……There are no cures, except possible lukewarm enemas to get that out of your system…..Can still see BAYBAY letting it slip through those NFL fingers……just saying, 90 wins in 9 years, 8 of 9……
gt4ever
April 19th, 2010
9:44 am
MUrray reached his peak in Highschool…. NOWAY he was better than Mett!
UGAgrad71
April 19th, 2010
9:45 am
Sad, very sad. It looks like the young man has self-control issues and is a man in an 18-year old kids body. I hope he is able to get a college education somewhere down the line and redeem himself.
I-DOG
April 19th, 2010
9:48 am
Diamond Dogs PO. You know that for a fact? or are you just spouting ideas that you wish and hope are the case? Nobody even seems to know exactly what he is being kicked off for….but somehow YOU know that this was forced on Richt.
Should Caleb King have been kicked off the team because of his moped incident first offense? I can’t think of another program in D-1 football that kicked a starting qb or a guy who is certainly competing for the starting job… off the team. I can’t imagine that what he did was anything like Houston at tech, a felon drug trafficker who was reinstated the first day the NCAA allowed or the guy from FL who shot a gun into a crowd and was allowed to return to the team.
That being said, I support this move by UGA and wish the young man the best of luck. I’m sure he will wind up playing at Ole Miss or Ms State or some other big time program. Does the dismissal release him from having to wait a year to play?
jasont13
April 19th, 2010
9:52 am
gt4ever, what do you do for a living? Oh thats right doesn’t have anything to do with scouting or rating quarterbacks. I think Mark Richt is a better judge of football talent than you are. Murray had one bad outing in the spring game and Mett played his best since he enrolled last year. So by your standards one good outing against a second and third team defense is ok for you and all the other idiots that think he should have started? Come on there is a reason why Murray had tons of scholarship offers. Urabn Meyer wanted him really bad and so did Pete Carrol and others.
jasont13
April 19th, 2010
9:53 am
He made his bed now let him lay in it. It wasn’t what happened in Valdosta that got him kicked off the team. I’ve heard he failed a drug test, which got him kicked off the team.
GT FAN PA
April 19th, 2010
10:05 am
Kudos to CMR for making this choice- I’m sick and tired of all these Kid’s thinking they can say and do what they want just on the talent they bring to a program-not saying it does not happen because more time then not it does as the pressure is put on the head coach to perform. I hope the kid learns a lesson and moves on from this- See you boys in November- Go Jackets- THWG!!!!
Laughing out loud at idiots
April 19th, 2010
10:08 am
I think this insures that Gray will not move to receiver even if Murray wins the job because with Murrays injury record, It would put a true Freshman behind center if he went down.
bulldawgrob
April 19th, 2010
10:30 am
There is more news to come from this.im’ a season ticket holder for the last 14 years and i have herd from friends with info from inside that there will be more news to come out.i want whats best for the Dawgs and i thought Mett would be a great player.But i think CMR would do whats best for georgia allways and i trust him.if your a real Dawg fan you get behind Murray,Grey,and Mason when he comes in.I hope the best for Zack Mett. and i hope he gets it togthere.I have herd there is more to this and the news will come out sometime.what ever has happened is Zach’s bussiness and between him and the university and i wish it would stay that way.but i being a Dawg fan wish Zach well but i will never pull for him to go somewhere else and do well aginst the dawgs!!!
Gator Kuntry
April 19th, 2010
10:32 am
Fake ID and underage drinking?
If enforced on the student body 80% would be goners…. Interesting approach especially since they have a new super frosh QB on the way guess that needs that scholarship -
hobnail boot
April 19th, 2010
10:42 am
I heard a rumor nearly 2 weeks ago before the spring game that Mett was going to be kicked off the team. What a shame to loose a kid with a NFL caliber arm and size to go with it. I wonder how long ago coach Richt made this decision.
Shreveport Sam
April 19th, 2010
10:43 am
ATL XMAN, God, stop, you’re just providing the atypical UGA fan prototype. I hate this young man lost his chance to play at UGA, what a blow for him and his family. Hell, I’m a Tech fan and hate to see it happen. And yes, it happens at all schools and both good and bad things happen to schools. It’s called life, folks.
In the end, Mark Richt will be judged for his record on the field……
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2010
10:44 am
Where is the WE HAVE TO NAME A STARTER RIGHT NOW IN APRIL crowd this morning? I mean who is going to take “reps” in the summer now?