UGA QB Mettenberger arrested in South Georgia (UPDATED)
Zach Mettenberger, a candidate to be the University of Georgia’s starting quarterback in the fall, was arrested on five misdemeanor charges over the weekend in the South Georgia town of Remerton.
Mettenberger, 18, was charged with underage consumption/possession of alcohol, disorderly conduct, obstruction and two counts of possessing fake identification, Remerton Police Chief Mike Terrell told the AJC.
The police report, obtained by the AJC, does not provide details about the circumstances surrounding Mettenberger’s arrest at 1:39 a.m. Sunday at the Flip Flops bar in Remerton, which is near Valdosta.
“I don’t have much available right now,” Terrell said in an e-mail. “We are still investigating the circumstances that led to his arrest.”
Mettenberger was transported to the Lowndes County Jail, according to the police report. He later was released on bond. He has a court date scheduled for April 27.
Under UGA Athletic Association policy, a conviction on an alcohol-related charge would mean a mandatory suspension of at least one game. Georgia’s season opener is Sept. 4 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Mettenberger, from Oconee County, is one of three contenders for Georgia’s starting quarterback job. Rated the No. 11 quarterback prospect in the nation by Rivals.com in 2008, Mettenberger was redshirted as a UGA freshman last season and began spring practice last week in competition with Aaron Murray and Logan Gray to succeed the graduated Joe Cox as the starter.
The arrest came early in UGA’s spring break, which runs through this week. The football team is not scheduled to resume practice until March 16.
A UGA spokesman said coach Mark Richt was aware of Mettenberger’s situation and will be getting more information on the matter. Richt is out of town and would have no immediate comment, the spokesman said.
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617 comments Add your comment
Ric Flair
March 8th, 2010
11:16 am
Poor kid,just wait. Richt is going to come down on him hard. I bet he will have to apologize. Might even make him run a extra lap. When will these kids learn.
Woo!!!!!!
JacketFan
March 8th, 2010
11:16 am
Not a thug, but selfish nonetheless. He’s let down his teammates.
David Polelock
March 8th, 2010
11:17 am
I think he such have to sit out the first quarter of the spring game.
DaveDawg
March 8th, 2010
11:17 am
Whatever. You can die for your country at age 18, you can be charged for a crime as an adult at age 18, but you’re not allowed to have a beer until 21? What a completely hypocritical, revenue-boosting, cop harassment tool that hides behind the facade of moral righteousness. It is an insult to young adults, yet we continue to discriminate against them and treat them as equals because we can.
Coach D
March 8th, 2010
11:17 am
Am guessing he is firmly entrenched at 3rd string on the depth chart. Use your brain kid!!!!
Papadawg
March 8th, 2010
11:18 am
College football players are the only students guilty of this kind of behavior, right. You think he’d robbed a GT geek or something
Jimbo
March 8th, 2010
11:18 am
Yes we all have done stupid stuff when we were younger. Nothing personal but I don’t think this is the kid we want running our offense. I would hope that the next UGA QB will be smart enough to recognize a situation that is not good for him or the program. A good leader would have not let himself get into these kind of situations
Shane
March 8th, 2010
11:19 am
Ps.all that being said Mark rICK IS doing a good job.KEEP IT up.
One thing he owns Alabama. 3-1 record against them.
#2 BAMA FAN
March 8th, 2010
11:19 am
The kid was just having some fun and made a very bad decision!! He did not hurt anybody or assult some woman like Big Ben. To all of the troll’s trying to stir up crap between Bama and Georgia can
GO KISS MY ASS!! RTR
UGA98
March 8th, 2010
11:20 am
Wow. Later Zack. Hello Aaron.
Steve
March 8th, 2010
11:20 am
Alabama fans should crawl back under their rocks. I find it funny how quiet most of you were until the Saban hire, and now you act like you own the world.
News flash, Alabama came as close as any school since SMU of going into a death penalty state. Had the NCAA not realized the death penalty was a big mistake, and had Alabama not been the historical powerhouse that it is, they would have gotten the death penalty.
Any one of you morons on here for Bama or Tech that is calling these kids thugs .. just remember, you were probably doing the same thing prior to being legally able to drink. If you weren’t then feel free to comment from the computer in your apartment .. aka your mothers basement .. mamma’s boy.
AltamahaDawg
March 8th, 2010
11:21 am
I don’t know why folks try to figure out the morality issue here. You did it, I did it, he did it. None of us are thugs. It might as well have been “don’t push this red button”. He knew the consequence, and pushed it anyway. I don’t really even care what lessons he learns or how he grows as a result (because he is not discovering anything he didnt already know). It’s not nearly that complicated in the real world, is it?
And yes, what IS with all the bama fans living in the UGA blogs lately? That would embarass me if my team just won a NC and some other school was this much inside my head.
JacketFan
March 8th, 2010
11:21 am
@Papadawg – No, obviously, but as a student athlete, he has more responsibilities. Athletes are an extension of the University and are part of a team. These kinds of selfish acts hurt the team. I doubt he will get any real kind of punishment, but he should be more mindful of his actions.
Doug Patterson
March 8th, 2010
11:21 am
College kids drinking?? What a shock. It is interesting reading all the post for self righteous sanctimonious, people who want to throw the kid under the bus. All of them are perfect, I am sure. My guess is they are Baptists.
Steve
March 8th, 2010
11:21 am
Wow … #2 BAMA fan I give you props. The first intelligent post from a Bama fan all day.
Snoop Dawg
March 8th, 2010
11:21 am
Our only hope is that the Russians are dumber than we are…
GatorMania
March 8th, 2010
11:22 am
Well well well…funny how the worm turns, isn’t it?? Just a couple of weeks ago, I was hearing from the Dawgs re: the Gary Brown situation at UF all about the arrests and how Urban Meyer promotes thuggery etc etc…. But I’m not going to go bashing here, I’m going to try to be real and say that this is a problem that ALL schools face or potentially face. (By the way, Gary Brown, a highly touted star recruit, is no longer on the Florida team). I think that the only way UF or UGA or Tennessee or Alabama or any other school is going to get a handle on this problem, which is a reflection of our society and our times more than on any individual coach, is to adopt an almost zero tolerance policy toward this situation which is happening more and more. Get ‘em out of there! I see this happening more at UF, they are tired of preaching to these guys and trying to hold their hands. It’s just not worth the bad public image that you have to endure. And it just doesn’t work. Send a stong message to the team, you’d better follow the rules and be a good teammate or be gone.
WinderDogg
March 8th, 2010
11:22 am
Remerton = Gator fans!
kerryb
March 8th, 2010
11:22 am
To all of you Alabama fans. There has not been an NCAA violation that your program has’nt like to violate and you want to talk about us. Yea. we have kids that make mistakes like all kids. Your coach is a liar and a jerk and he will always be that way.
Barney
March 8th, 2010
11:22 am
UGA and arrested in the same sentence? How is that possible??? Richt, keep recruiting thugs and stupid kids. No way you’ll ever win the SEC.
The defending national champions
March 8th, 2010
11:22 am
Dawggirl32,
Sweetie you don’t want to get into an argument with me on players arrested. Saban booted most of the 7 players that were all discipline problems when he arrived in 2007. He doesn’t put up with that crap like Richt does. In each of the last 2 years we’ve had something like 1 player arrested while the dawgs have routinely had 7-8 arrested over single year. Please don’t embarrass yourself by arguing with me over who has had more arrests over any time frame. Its the only contest Georgia not only beats us in but whips us soundly. As for Courtney Upshaw his arrest for domestic violence charge was dropped. His girlfriend saw him talking to another girl and slapped the fool out of him. He held her down to keep her from hitting him. A campus cop doing his rounds saw the whole thing and had no choice but to arrest both. Charges were dropped because the player did nothing wrong. You should learn something before you run your mouth about an incident. And furthermore this white girl’s father publicly blamed her because he knew she was the aggressor. In his own word he “felt sorry” for Courtney Upshaw because it wasn’t Upshaw’s fault. There ya go there sweetie. You still didn’t answer the question though. How many dawgs have been arrested in the past 3-4 years? Isn’t it like 25 over the last 4 years?
BG
March 8th, 2010
11:23 am
Ric Flair, Mark Richt actually suspends his players for multiple games. Richt is probably the most strict coach in the SEC.
5 Buck Box
March 8th, 2010
11:23 am
Wow, LSU is amazing? Is that the response you were looking for, Redstic? There are many former bulldogs doing great things right now, so your post is irrelevant.
bama
March 8th, 2010
11:23 am
where was I? right their in T-town hurting everytime we lost but I also was screaming after we won the BCS title. Where were you when you guys won the BCS title?? oh yeah…..
david
March 8th, 2010
11:24 am
Hey Hudson, they are starting to fall!!!!!!! Keep doing what you have done!!!!
howdoesitfeel
March 8th, 2010
11:24 am
All the rocks you threw at UT…hmmmm….those in glass houses…..
JacketFan
March 8th, 2010
11:25 am
On another note, anyone else wondering what the heck Ben Rothlesberger was doing Milledgeville?!?!? That is just about the weirdest thing I have heard in a long while.
Gratefuldawghead
March 8th, 2010
11:25 am
Nothing I didn’t do in college!
Blue
March 8th, 2010
11:25 am
How2fish
March 8th, 2010
10:47 am
The defending national champions..you are out of your mind..
Dude…I am neither a Bama or UGA fan, but you just sound stupid when you say something like “you are not defending national champions because you guys are being investigated for some things back in 2005-2007″. So who is the defending national champion, braniac?
G. Tampa Bedwetter
March 8th, 2010
11:25 am
Now we’ll see how good he really is as a quarterback. Matthew Stafford was front page news (with accompanying photos) doing presses with a beer keg for the amusement of a scantily clad coed. No problem, but then Matthew was #1 high school QB in the nation.
I agree Richt will prove consistancy or lack thereof.
Jimmy Swagert
March 8th, 2010
11:25 am
HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN. CAST THE FIRST STONE
ugamillertime
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
The dawgs get arrested for stupid stuff like a suspended license or underage drinking. The Vols, Tide and Gators like to take it to another level with arrests for robbery, assult, DUI, drug possession. An arrest is an arrest but misdemeanors and felonies are not on the same level.
DSGB
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
Remerton, GA is a joke. They do nothing but farm money off of college kids. They are shady, slimy, mofo’s whose only way of generating revenue is to pray off of the college community. I have boycotted the area becuase of there shady tactics.
WinderDogg
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
tdnc – If you would have lost to Auburn, they would have called the klan..saban’s a crook!
Engineer 99
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
No big deal—UGA’s got tons of connections down there–their lawyers will make it “go away” quietly. Just pass a few season tickets around and things happen!!! Just win baby!
Joshhh...
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
well it looks like Murray will be the starter — Mettenberger just shot himself in the foot.
kerryb
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
All of these Alabama fans like to run their big mouths now. I remember just a few short years ago when they were the door mats of the SEC west getting beat by Auburn every year. They were not talking a bunch of smack then. Matter of fact you never heard from them because they were all hiding. You soon will be that way again when your liar coach leaves you high and dry to scratch that NFL itch again. Enjoy it while it last.
bama
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
UGA fans are nuts, we when sucked I said we sucked but for some reason you guys suck but still think your gonna win every game you nut jobs
dawgrific
March 8th, 2010
11:26 am
tech nerds, eligibility and intelligence don’t necessarily go
, lighten up folks
hand-in-hand, aka Reggie Ball, so let’s not go there, plus, if tech kids didn’t drink then the suicide rate would be very high on that god-forsaken campus, 83% guys/male nerds, nothing to do on campus that doesn’t require a slide-rule, and threat of being mugged if you venture off-campus
-Having said that, I am disappointed in Zach, but having been a student, and having had many drinks in that role, I don’t think an over-reaction is necessary here, let’s just hope he learned his lesson, know where to drink and where not to,
A white guy in a Brown Hall
March 8th, 2010
11:27 am
I was there! I guess he couldn’t stumble his way 20 minutes into Florida. The cops in Remerton aint worth a eff yooo seee kaayy to be honest though. I’ve seen alot of shady tickets and arrests.
acc police have richt on speed dial
March 8th, 2010
11:27 am
i just checked the athens-clarke county website and there are plans for a new cell block in the county jail exclusively for uga football players. apparently they will be able to attend class as well as work out and practice in the yard during their 1 hour of rec time each day. yyeaahh grid iron gang.
dawgma
March 8th, 2010
11:27 am
LSU fans talking about their program & honor is like Bill Clinton saying he didn’t have sex wid dat girl. We all nose dey cheat and lie.
gym dawg
March 8th, 2010
11:27 am
What idiot goes to a bar in Remberton looking for a good time?
Richt's Butt Cut
March 8th, 2010
11:27 am
We Drink this State!
Steiner
March 8th, 2010
11:28 am
bama:
Heard Louisiana Lafayette was coming back on the schedule….Better button up….
Jack G.
March 8th, 2010
11:28 am
Many years ago when I first started practicing Law in Atlanta, I was discussing a DUI case with a traffic court judge. He said “Jack there are just two kinds of drivers. The caught and the uncaught.” How right he was.
So the kid is now one of the caught. Aint no big deal. MOve on.
Jack
March 8th, 2010
11:28 am
reply to Sweet Home Alabama,,,,,, yeah,, okay ,, you just keep believing that,,, “total person concept”… let’s just see what these “total people” have to say when the NCAA punishments come down,,, that NC trophy is going to look a little tarnised,,,,,
Oh well
March 8th, 2010
11:28 am
He must not have been doin to hot at practice if it drove him to drink already…and on a Sunday…oh well
we ruin this state
March 8th, 2010
11:28 am
AND THE BEAT GOES ON…. AND THE BEAT GOES ON… Welcome to UGA. Home of the 72 oz tonic and fake ID’s. Get’em while there hot!!!
gym dawg
March 8th, 2010
11:28 am
It’s such a goofy place for a good time I couldn’t even spell it right!