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
Impatient dawg
April 19th, 2010
7:30 pm
No question about it. Mett was by far the best qb we had stat wise in the spring scrimmages. He clearly was going to be the starter after the first game. Murray looks shaky, not great judgement, and his td and ints ratio was way out of wack. No doubt about it. We are definitely in trouble at the qb position.
Las Vegas Chainsaw
April 19th, 2010
10:17 pm
Muttenburger will NEVER play a game at an SEC school…bank on it.
jdawg
April 19th, 2010
10:38 pm
I don’t know why everyone was so excited about Metterberger in the first place. He was not the best high school quarterback in Athens his senior year and was not even on the all area team,
atl xmen
April 19th, 2010
11:48 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68Mmf1VDao0&feature=related
check out UGA new QB they will be fine/..this guy can play the qb postion
HenryVIII
April 20th, 2010
12:50 am
That kid got what he had coming. His an entitled little punk who treats everyone especially women with disrespect. I expect many more details to come out about the incident he was arrested for.
AltamahaDawg
April 20th, 2010
7:28 am
Don’t forget Tony Barnhart and David Hale, both experts on Georgia football, have been to the practices and YES did watch the G-day games. But wait, the “stats”. Silly sportwriters.
costadogman
April 20th, 2010
8:13 am
Richt seems to lack the courage to explain his reasons for dismissal of the kid who may have turned out to be an all pro.
If Zack was such a bad guy fine, but the coach should have the guts to tell us the real story.
If this was some petty drinking problem richt should have studied what bear bryant did with namath.
CLEVON LITTLE
April 20th, 2010
8:21 am
Murray is in over his head. DAWGS ‘D’ will be better, and even though there is a lot of talent on the ‘O’, METT was clearly the best QB. Murray will be no better than Joe Cox — more talent than Joe, and different than Joe –but by seasons end I don’t believe his stats will be any better. SO, we are right back in the same situation as last year –actually worse because we have less depth. Usually I look forward to fall football all summer. Not so much this year. Sad time in DAWG nation.
CLEVON LITTLE
April 20th, 2010
8:25 am
AltamahaDawg … Are you being serious or kissing Tonys azz?? Tony an ‘expert’??!! lol Tony isn’t even an ‘expert’ sports writer, much less an expert on UGA football. GMAFB
wsewell525
April 20th, 2010
8:32 am
well truth be told the best talent is rarely on the field. It’s really just the people who are able to stay the course, and keep themselves out of trouble.
Bud Kilmer
April 20th, 2010
8:33 am
IT WAS YOUR DREAM TO PLAY WEST CANON FOOTBALL….NOT MINE!
CLEVON LITTLE
April 20th, 2010
8:41 am
METT was recruited for 3-4 years for having so much potential. Murray was recruited slightly because he was rated as a ‘TOP 10 QB’ by most recruiting analysts, which we all know that recruiting analysts are WAY over-rated. Murray wanted to come to GA all along –just as Stafford did. Richt probably promised Murray starting time just as he did Stafford (regardless of what they claim publicly). Murray is 6-1″; he will look no better in the fall than he looked in the spring. WAFJTI.
CLEVON LITTLE
April 20th, 2010
8:42 am
wsewell525 , for some teams, I agree.
Bud Kilmer
April 20th, 2010
8:49 am
STICK TO THE BASICS!
hop
April 20th, 2010
9:28 am
a bad move made by richt and he will live to regret the harshness of it when zack plays big time for another sec team!
richt has keep other players on the team for far worse,but mr. perfect only wanted to show the world how tough he is!
it is high time to get a coach who is consistent in his judgement,mark richt is not!
the big loser will be uga and not zack because he will found many in the sec who will welcome him with open arms.
how2fish
April 20th, 2010
9:59 am
CLEVON LITTLE I think if I was going to listen to someone pick games in college football and the SEC I’d trust Tony over say..well you. And please sad days for the Dawgs?? Question what would you do if say Mett had blow a knee out a couple of weeks from opening day ? Run to Auburn or Bama…?? Man up! If this is the worse that happens it will be a banner year!
lazydawg
April 20th, 2010
10:19 am
CMR is protecting the kid by not putting out why he let him go.
GaDawg
April 20th, 2010
10:36 am
hop – The whole truth has not come out yet. And, I think that CMR has more information than we bloggers! This is not a bad move. It is obvious that the kid has bad judgment. I think he thought nothing was going to happen. Rumor has it that there are some issues with a female also. So let’s all wait to pass judgment on CMR and how this adversely affects UGA until the full story is told. He will play football somewhere, but I don’t think it will be an SEC school. His name is mud right now. I’m sure your mother probably told you, sometimes someone has to be made an example of and Mett was that someone. I wish him well and hope that he learns from this. Hold off judgment of CMR until you know the facts. I agree with lazydog. Richt is protecting him but that small town south Georgia police chief will not. They will release the whole report in time.
Bulldog59
April 20th, 2010
10:59 am
Hop, etal. I hate to see ZM go, but CMR made the right call. We don’t know all the details, except as now reported on 680 The Fan, ZM allegedly was doing a watered-down imitation of Ben Roethlisberger on the night in question. CMR has proven he will stand behind players that make mistakes, offering them a second chance, as long as they take responsibility for their actions. In this case, it is reported that when CMR confronted ZM with specifics about his conduct towards a female, ZM lied. Faced with that, CMR has obviously decided he can not trust ZM to lead this football team. I tend to agree.
Mambo
April 20th, 2010
10:59 am
Mettenberger had to have really caused a problem to have gotten this much attention from police in Valdosta. People who sit and drink quietly don’t attract the attention of police. The whole truth finally came out and CMR did the right thing. If CMR had done this some time back in other cases, this wouldn’t have happened.
Bulldog59
April 20th, 2010
11:34 am
And to Clevon Little, Urban Meyer had targeted Murray as THE GUY he wanted to replace Tebow at UF. I’d say UGA got a quality player. We lack depth at QB and WR. Lets hope (1) Murray stays healthy and performs, (2) Bobo/CMR design a package for Gray if he is needed, and (3) Hutson Mason shows up this summer and is as good as advertised, and finally (4) the entire group of WRs/TEs contribute.
Bull Gator
April 20th, 2010
7:47 pm
Don’t bet on ZM not playing for some low life SEC coach. Cam Newton stole a laptop and was dismissed from UF. Can you say Auburn???
AltamahaDawg
April 20th, 2010
9:21 pm
I must have been swayed by the books, and the national sports shows, and the newspaper columns.
Next time, I’ll try to find folks like you that know all the private conversations between coaches and recruits when I am looking for insight.
DawgVoiceofReason
April 20th, 2010
10:22 pm
costadogman,
You said, “If this was some petty drinking problem richt should have studied what bear bryant did with namath.”
And look how that ultimately turned out with Namath: Namath, apparently intoxicated on National TV, practically propositioning a female sideline reporter. There is no such thing as a “petty drinking problem”, by the way.
Richt did the right thing. There is no way the quarterback can stay with that kind of behavior, even with an arm as good as his. It would have eventually been worse for the team to keep him.
GT BABY
April 20th, 2010
11:16 pm
1980
GT BABY
April 20th, 2010
11:16 pm
INDEPENDENCE BOWL
GT BABY
April 20th, 2010
11:17 pm
7-5
GT BABY
April 20th, 2010
11:17 pm
KENTUCKY
GT BABY
April 20th, 2010
11:18 pm
ATL XMEN- SHUT UP, YOU’RE STUPID!
Kyle's Pyle
September 4th, 2010
2:45 pm
Looks like CMR made a great decision…built a good looking team and can’t wait to see how we play against SEC teams with our full staff…
Discipline is what we’ve needed to beat our #1 enemy – penalties…and it appears to be working in our first game!
Go Dawgs!!
Kyle's Pyle
September 4th, 2010
2:54 pm
And Hutson Mason scores 6 on his first pass with the Dawgs…nice
Glad drinkinberger didn’t make the cut and demoralize the rest of these hard workin boys!
Nathan Grantham’s D looks great! Hoorah!