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!
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
331 comments Add your comment
AceDawg
April 19th, 2010
10:48 am
Let’s see if Roethlesberger’s name comes up with Mettenberger’s. The names and their shared position, as well as their seemingly shared interest in young girls, leaves the opportunity open.
Lastdogstanding
April 19th, 2010
10:53 am
I see Mett heading for Columbia and providing a conduit for Spurrier to win a championship. This thing has the aroma of the stench coming out of Adam’s and Damon’s lair. This kid was hosed and so were the dog fans.
FLA DAWG
April 19th, 2010
10:56 am
I hear more news is forthcoming about the circumstances of his arrest which will justify his dismissal from the team. Despite the fact Mett shined in the Springs I’d rather this occur now than halfway into the season. I guess that’s the only good thing to come out of this.
Murray should be good enough to grow with O Line support and protection this season.
squat
April 19th, 2010
11:02 am
i think this should have been done sooner than to drag the kid along..
#21
April 19th, 2010
11:07 am
I give Richt credit for making a stand early and letting these kids know what will and what won’t be tolerated. Makes you wonder what new information is coming forth though.
ATL XMAN
April 19th, 2010
11:13 am
11-3? haha ga tech wont see 10 wins again as long coach PJ is there..the old school offense has lost all but 1 or 2 div 1a guys to make it work and that will not cut it when most of teh teams on your schedule are fielding div 1a players all over the place. techs high school offense has been running on coach gailys players which were div 1a guys that are going pro where as PJ guys are players that should be playing at GA Southern or some other div 1aa team..Murry is faster and smarter than metts and can make very throw that Metts can make…his arm might not ne as strong as Metts but its strong enough to make all the throws that UGA we ask him to throw. plus he can throw on the run where as Metts couldnt….look for Murry to be one of the best QB’s in the SEC this year..the guy can play and he will only get better. his int had nothing to do with not seeing over the line..it was at the end of the game and he was trying to make a play and made a bad throw…he is taller than Joe Cox and csn move in the pocket..much like drew breese…
gt4ever..who do you guys have that is a true qb and not a converted running back or corner other than Nesbitt ( a gaily recruit)…you guys are in deep trouble and look forward to your posting of cursing Paul Johnson and his high school offense this year…
ATL XMAN
April 19th, 2010
11:17 am
what is murry’s injury record? he doesn’t have one…he played in all but a few games and that is because he had a broken ankle..haha and the guy still came back to finish the season strong…
Bull Gator
April 19th, 2010
11:23 am
Hey Auburn, go get your backup QB like the criminal Cam Newton the Gators dismissed…
Shreveport Sam
April 19th, 2010
11:34 am
ATL XMAN, Murry is your second string quarterback at best, he may even not be that. And while you’re ragging on Paul Johnson, please don’t even bother. What he’s accomplished in two years is phenomenal. You can even rag on Gailey, but he is coaching a professional football team, something I don’t see the NFL recruiting the preacher man for.
You’d better be worried about what’s goin’ on in Athens. It’s not pretty…..
38 Yardline Dawg
April 19th, 2010
11:38 am
Makes you wonder just what did Mett do? It wasn’t just drinking and being a college kid. I mean, Montez Robinson went to jail three times before being dismissed from the team.
DawgBuzz
April 19th, 2010
11:57 am
Well, this really sucks. So much for the coming season. Mettenberger had come such a long way since last year. The guy took care of the ball. He out passed the other two easily. This guy was a perfect fit for a pro style offense. Logan looked average, Murray never did impress me. Hutson Mason won’t see the field unless the other two end up injured.
comeandgetittechies
April 19th, 2010
12:23 pm
Enter your comments here
comeandgetittechies
April 19th, 2010
12:29 pm
woops,
Shreveport Sam.
ive always said how envious tech was of UGAs athletic success for the last ten years.
all you ever played in was toilet bowls when you actually went to one while UGA was gracing Sugar Bowls, Captial Ones, Chick-Fil-A, and Outback bowls.
GT has ONE, are you reading this, ONE, BCS bowl appearance to UGAs 3
and of course when you do go to it (you lose it mind you) you act like you just won the national championship
funny also that while all this is going on you still get whooped by UGA in your house.
or should I say UGAs house, 5 in a row at Mini-Dodd bleachers
you win one game by three points and you think that you all of a sudden own Georgia which you clearly do not.
You are no longer a main rival for UGA, we need to focus more on Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee, tech is just a W on the schedule for UGA
Dr M
April 19th, 2010
12:32 pm
I support CMR in running a winning program we can be proud of on and off the field.
Richts Butt Cut
April 19th, 2010
1:14 pm
Better me more to it than this….Richt may be WAY out of line on this one if true…
Chuck Oliver’s Blog
Disclaimer….
Apr 19, 2010 — 12:56pm
Disclaimer: until I hear this directly from Mark Richt or Zach Mettenberger or the bouncer at the bar, this is simply what I’ve been told from three separate sources. One is a former All-SEC player who is still up-close with the program, one is attached to the program and works with Coach Richt on a weekly basis during the season. The third source is simply the third source — can’t say much more without identifying him, but is someone I trust. Very solid, never been wrong. Having said that . . .
ZM being dismissed from the program is because of two things — 1. There was much more to what happened that night than originally came out and 2. ZM lied to Coach Richt about it.
According to the sources, ZM was seriously intoxicated that night at the bar in Remerton. He was being very inappropriate with his language and then became inappropriate physically. One girl, in particular, works at the bar — she wasn’t on duty that night, but was there with friends and ZM was essentially trying to expose her in the bar in full view of others. The bouncer tossed ZM into the parking lot and that’s when the altercation with the police began.
ZM has several friends at VSU that he’s known from growing up together in Oconee. Several of these friends are all in the same sorority at VSU and the girl he was allegedly accosting is in that sorority.
ZM then gets back to Athens and lies to Richt about what happened. From what I have heard, ZM told Richt that he had put one hand on each of the girl’s hips to move around her when he was trying to the bathroom and she was in the path he was taking between two tables in the bar. No one else backs up that story. Again, this is according to three sources that I trust.
chazzo
April 19th, 2010
1:37 pm
Anyone else suspect that Richt knew this was going to happen prior to G-Day. That would certainly explain why Zach only played with B-team. I wish that kid well. Give ‘em hell Richt.
CDAWG
April 19th, 2010
1:39 pm
I pray that Murray lives up to the billing that I had been hearing before the G-Day game. I did not see it in that game. I just hope that there was a reason why he threw straight at defenders and threw it 20 yards away from his receivers. This really stinks, Mett was the real deal! My balloon has definitely been deflated some. I agree with an earlier posts that something else must have surfaced; CMR would not have let him continue on in the spring.
Shreveport Sam
April 19th, 2010
2:20 pm
comeandgetittechies, the mere fact that you felt like you had to lay all that crap out to prove your point just indicates how far the Tech program has come. And you know you don’t want to be talkin’ about Florida or Tennessee, now do you?
silly uga fans
April 19th, 2010
2:36 pm
I love how some UGA fans love to talk about dominating GT over the years and how their worst team in years beat our best in years. First off that was not the best team GT has had in years. The offense was good with a shacky line and that was the worst defense GT has fielded in the last ten years. Funny how some forget that lasr years preseason #1 dawgs lost to GTs predicted 3-8 team. Last years loss hurt because on paper GT should have won, but once again the D let the team down. Winning by six is not dominating.
LifelongDawg
April 19th, 2010
2:39 pm
We can’t have it both ways; the fans have been edgy about the lack of team discipline for awhile now. I might have preferred that something as severe as dismissal wait on adjudication of the charges, but who knows what the young man admitted to Coach Richt already? Not good for the short term, but the proper message is being put out to recruits: Exceptional talent but questionable behavior will not be accepted. Period.
silly uga fans
April 19th, 2010
2:41 pm
comeandgetittechies,
If it is just a W on UGAs schedule, then why oh why do fans like you feel the need to justify the win? The highlight of your horrible season was beating lowly GT and you can’t stop talking about it, yet diminish the program at the same time. Fans like you are a joke.
LifelongDawg
April 19th, 2010
2:45 pm
@ silly uga fans…”Winning by six is not dominating.”
Good to hear. Now maybe you whiny Tech fans will cease and desist with the trash talk that comes from winning by three the previous year. BTW, winning eight of nine IS dominating…
Fletcher
April 19th, 2010
2:50 pm
These athletes need more explanation of life from home. They feel they are the answer to the world’s problems with all the attention they get.
JalenTigh
April 19th, 2010
3:43 pm
It does not matter what the Athletic Dept. is saying, there simply HAS to be some other violation that has occurred. Though this “ongoing” investigation from his previous arrest sounds ominous, as in possibly additional charges, it seems unethical that the police would have have made those known to Richt or the Athletic Department before any charges are filed. Not to mention charges don’t mean guilt. This just feels wrong to me, letting this kid go through Spring ball and all and then cutting him, leaving him less time to find a school to transfer too. There better be some more serious charges and not just allegations, or some serious rule violation that has just occurred, or I will have lost alot of respect for Richt.
Bobo and Richt promised to announce the QB order
April 19th, 2010
3:55 pm
Well, per Richt’s promise, we got the order for the UGA starting QB: 1.Aaron Murray and 2..Logan Gray and 3. Hutson Mason. Gee, this was easy.
Too bad for Mett’s family. His mom is a employee of the UGA Athletic offices, right? She has to be grim faced and mad. Too bad. Imagine how many kids would love to be in the hunt to start at QB for a SEC school and then they go get some cold ones and blow it all up with mouth and poor judgement. Dang. Teen aged, punk young men. At 40, if he never plays again, he will not get over this dumb move.
Gooooooooooooooooooooo Dogs. Sic em!!
silly uga fans
April 19th, 2010
3:56 pm
I will admit that several GT fans went overboard after the 08 win, but that was after 7 years of misery and some UGA fans saying once again we would fall to the mighty preseason #1. What sucks in good ole fashioned hate is that GT has fell in close scoring games minus 07 (31-17) and should have had 06 if not for the horrible pass interference call that should have been offenseive pass interference not defensive. My point really is that some UGA fans go on and on about being dominant and playing in the mighty SEC and slam the GT program, but with all that talent and GTs appearant lack of it UGA wins by a single score in low scoring games. That is not dominance if as some say GT is a lowly nerd school in a weak confrence with no talent around the ball. Can’t have it both ways.
silly uga fans
April 19th, 2010
3:59 pm
GT fans have a right to be excited about the direction of the program as do UGA fans with the direction of thiers, minus this story. Up side to this story is it may help UGA land a top QB recruit next year with less competition.
Hey, Silly UGA fans ...I can splain it
April 19th, 2010
4:08 pm
Um, ah, the reason that we UGA fans get on this blog to pound on Tech is because of that twirp Saint Simon who in 2009, just banged away on his keyboard with noise about UGA losing to tech in 2008.
Usually, as in like 21 of the last 25 years, UGA fans go to the tech game watch another WIN over tech and then plan on some decent bowl like Outback or Sugar or Chi FIl A or the Capital One.
With Saint SImon banging away, UGA fans warned him that we would not let up when we handled you bees and we did. Had we won by only 1 point, it still would be funny. The numbers about tech vs UGA are irrefutable. Also, the fact that tech has been only to two major bowls in 42 years
( Urange Bowl ) is laughable and most of your bowl games were Boise Bowl or the Micron Bowl or the Gator a couple of times.
You do know that in 2010 the Independence Bowl will be taking the SECOND PLACE ACC team, as the Gator bowl FIRED the ACC. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHA They know that the ACC Champ is only ranked around 17, so why invite the ACC runner up, ranked 54th. AAAAAAHAHAHA
Go Dogs.
38 Yardline Dawg
April 19th, 2010
4:17 pm
I just figured out why Mett was dismissed…Hutson Mason wears #5, so Richt needed Mett’s jersey available in August.
I am trying to find the positive with Mett’s dismissal, and looking at some of Mason’s highlights from last year, he could move to the back up position by Fall.
UGAAlumnus
April 19th, 2010
4:20 pm
I was convinced Murray was the guy for the job until sitting in Sanford Stadium on April 10th. Mettenberger looked good, and he changed my mind.
But now he’s gone. Wow. Who was expecting that?
You know, I was watching Mett on the side line with his helmet off talking to other players. You could see it from the 26th row that he just doesn’t give a ****. He seemed to have the attitude that he could take it or leave it. Both Murray and Gray seem very focused on football. Mettenberger just comes across like he doesn’t care.
This leaves us in a very precarious position of basically having only 2 QBs.
Aaron Murray
April 19th, 2010
4:35 pm
You’ll be sorry!
Aaron Murray
April 19th, 2010
4:40 pm
I cant wait to start against La Lafayette; it will get me ready for a sorry SC team.
Thuga
April 19th, 2010
4:59 pm
Since the new DC has joined the team it seems CMR has had to step it up a notch. He knows that with this guy the defense will not be babied and heads and tails will roll for not abiding by the rules. Maybe this could be the start of something good….
For all you crybabies that think this is too harsh, being soft has made the Dawgs be stupid. Sure we can win alot of games, but we can’t win the important games. Maybe the FSU is being drained out of CMR and he is becoming a full blooded dawg… time will tell.
Don’t fire his momma, let her quit!
larrymunsonthe3rd
April 19th, 2010
4:59 pm
This it not a big blow to our offense
blazer
April 19th, 2010
5:22 pm
make room for lemay kid i guess-thought murray was the next hero???
Small Johnson
April 19th, 2010
5:38 pm
Thuga
Well spoken
Well spoken!
DawgBuzz
April 19th, 2010
5:39 pm
Hey CMR, what ever happened to second chances?? He has not been in trouble since and was by far your best QB. Did he lie to you or could he not remember clearly what happened?? Hope we can run the ball because we DON’T have a true starting QB right now. Logan – average at best. Murray – looked scared out there and the D wasn’t allowed to touch him.
tim
April 19th, 2010
5:39 pm
you dogs will see this kid again, and you won’t be happy
tim
April 19th, 2010
5:41 pm
can’t wait to see Murray in Jax he’ll rue the day he went to a mid-level SEC wanna be
DawgBuzz
April 19th, 2010
5:42 pm
Maybe with Logan and Murray we can just run the wishbone.
matt
April 19th, 2010
5:47 pm
there seriously must be more to this than messing around with a girl in a bar, right? even “trying to expose a girl,” while deserving of a suspension, doesn’t merit dismissal. dismissal is armed robbery, felony assault, forced sexual relations, repeated drug violations, etc. something really bad. getting drunk and cutting loose in a bar one night as an 18 year old kid doesn’t do it for me.
4 ncs are better than 1 is a......
April 19th, 2010
5:49 pm
This guy’s post are the dumbest of anyone on this blog. What an adiot. Stick to the subject.
Agree with Mr. King, Richt showed no mercy here, 1st offense, gone. There is nothing new coming out of this arrest, no secrets left. No proof of any of that. The UGA people even said there is nothing additional involved here.
Yes, it hurts, but we move on. Hustson Mason is our only hope for 2010, or it’s a 6-6 year with Richt out the door.
silly uga fans is a......
April 19th, 2010
5:52 pm
ok, this guy’s post are the worst. Both say nothing of value.
As Mr. King pointed out, this is a big time loss for Georgia. Mettenberger was deemed the QB in his class with the “most upside” by Scout. And Mettenberger was winning the QB derby in the 3 scrimmages in every category.
DawgBuzz
April 19th, 2010
5:57 pm
I agree with you Matt. What the heck did he do to deserve being dismissed??? This sucks.
Dawg07
April 19th, 2010
6:13 pm
DAWGS will be OK! Hopefully, Matt will be too. We wish him the best.
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2010
6:19 pm
There is of cource the possibility that developments from the “ongoing” investigation are going to continue to be distraction for both Mr. Mettenberger and the football program throughout the summer, and it was mutually agreed upon that this is what is in both’s best interest. Of cource, that would be too obvious. More than likely it’’s one of the well informed theories put forth in here today.
Dawg 39
April 19th, 2010
6:23 pm
Sorry but I just don’t understand . The stats don’t lie. CMR is the most successful coach in Dawg History. Nobody is going to fire him or ask him to resign. All of the new coaches believe they can win at UGA with CMR as HC. The players do too. He is not going anywhere anytime soon. You are beating a dead horse. Get with the program or call it quits. Personally, I believe The Year is this year.
2010: THE YEAR OF THE DAWG. Time Will Tell.
Small Johnson
April 19th, 2010
6:25 pm
I think Mett was driving the cab
How can they all have...
April 19th, 2010
6:26 pm
Man oh man, I’m glad that I found this blog. I’ve been reading about that Murray kid for over a year now and I’m really happy and want to thank you all for setting me straight on what a short, slow, injury prone, weak armed QB that will be leading the DAWGS next year. This valuable information will help make me indepently wealthy. To think that I was depending on sports writers around the country gushing over his abilities. To think that Colt McCoy, Carson Palmer, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Pete Carol, Urban Meyer, Rick Neuheisel, Tom Lemming, Phil Fulmer, Tom Luginbill (who stated he was tied with Barkley for being the best QB in the country), could all be so wrong. Yea buddy, I’m just counting my blessings that I found all of you experts. If any of you experts have access to the team, please steer Murray away from this site. I sure wouldn’t want him to benefit from any of this valuable information. I want to retire early.
DawgBuzz
April 19th, 2010
6:36 pm
CMR wanted the best QB who would protect the ball….that would’ve been Mettenberger. He had the fewest turnovers and threw more TD’s. The stats don’t lie. Sorry, I wanted Mett to get past his mistake and succeed with the team. What could have been….