Zach Mettenberger

Zachary Rich Mettenberger (born July 16, 1991) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at LSU. Mettenberger has also played for the San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football (AAF).

Zach Mettenberger
Mettenberger with the Titans in 2014
No. 7, 4, 18, 8
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1991-07-16) July 16, 1991
Athens, Georgia
Height:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:223 lb (101 kg)
Career information
High school:Watkinsville (GA) Oconee County
College:LSU
NFL Draft:2014 / Round: 6 / Pick: 178
Career history
As player:
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
As coach:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Passing completions:208
Passing attempts:345
Percentage:60.3
TD–INT:12–14
Passing yards:2,347
Passer rating:75.4
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

Mettenberger attended Oconee County High School in Watkinsville, Georgia. As a senior on the football team, he threw 2,106 yards passing with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was ranked as the 11th best pro-style quarterback recruit in his class by Rivals.com.[1]

College career

Mettenberger originally attended the University of Georgia where he redshirted the 2009 season,[2] but was kicked off the team due to a violation of team rules. On April 30, 2010, Mettenberger pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor sexual battery charges stemming from an incident at a bar near Valdosta, Georgia.[3][4] He transferred to Butler Community College, where he became the starter for the 2010 season.[5] In his lone season at Butler, he threw for 2,678 passing yards with 32 touchdowns and four interceptions. He led Butler to an 11–1 record and the JUCO National Championship game.

Prior to the 2011 season, Mettenberger transferred to Louisiana State University.[6] In his first season at LSU, he completed 8-of-11 pass attempts for 92 yards and a touchdown in limited action. In 2012, he took over as the starting quarterback.[7][8] He led the team to a 10–3 record, completing 58.8% of his passes for 2,609 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.[9] With the arrival of Cam Cameron as offensive coordinator in 2013, Mettenberger led LSU to a 9–3 regular season record, completing 64.9% of his passes for 3,082 yards, 22 touchdowns, and eight interceptions with a yards per pass attempt of 10.41 and a quarterback rating of 171.4.[10] He was the first LSU quarterback to throw for 2,500 or more yards in back-to-back seasons and was a two-time team captain. Mettenberger tore his ACL in LSU's final regular season game against Arkansas.[11] He underwent surgery and 13 weeks later, he fully participated in LSU's Pro Day. He threw nearly 125 passes while wearing a helmet and shoulder pads and completed over 90% of his passes.[12] He graduated from Louisiana State in December 2013 with a degree in General Studies.[13]

Collegiate statistics
YearTeamPassingRushing
CmpAttPctYdsY/ATDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
2011LSU81172.7928.410173.022814.00
2012LSU20735258.82,6097.4127128.347-208-4.40
2013LSU19229664.93,08210.4228171.434-133-3.90
Career40765961.85,7838.83515148.483-313-3.80

Source:[14]

Professional career

Tennessee Titans
Mettenberger with the Titans at 2014 training camp

Mettenberger was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the 6th round (pick number 178 overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft.[15][16]

On September 28, 2014, Mettenberger made his NFL debut in relief of Charlie Whitehurst in a 41–17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. He went 2-of-5 for 17 yards with an interception.[17]

On October 22, 2014, the Titans decided that Mettenberger would start over Jake Locker and Whitehurst against the Houston Texans.[18] Mettenberger and the Titans lost 30–16 to the Texans. Mettenberger was 27 of 41 for 299 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.[19]

Mettenberger started against the Pittsburgh Steelers on his Monday Night Football debut on November 17, 2014, going 15-of-24 for two touchdowns and an interception and hitting former Steeler Nate Washington for an 80-yard touchdown.[20] During a 36–7 blowout loss to the New York Giants, Mettenberger sustained a shoulder injury and missed the last 3 games.[21] Mettenberger finished his rookie season with 8 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and 1,412 passing yards while also rushing for 4 yards. He started in six games for the Titans, all losses.[22]

Mettenberger played in seven games and started four of them in 2015 due to injuries to starter Marcus Mariota.[23][24] He threw for 935 yards and four touchdowns with seven interceptions while also rushing for 8 yards and a touchdown.[23] Mettenberger was released by the Titans on May 16, 2016.[25]

San Diego Chargers

On May 17, 2016, Mettenberger was claimed off waivers by the San Diego Chargers.[26] On August 30, 2016, Mettenberger was cut by the Chargers.[27]

Pittsburgh Steelers

On August 31, 2016, Mettenberger was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Steelers.[28] He did not play in any games during the 2016 NFL season and was inactive for 12 of the Steelers' 16 regular season games, as well as all three playoff games.

Mettenberger was active for Weeks 4 and 5 (against the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, respectively) as the third quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger and Landry Jones. He was also active as the backup for Weeks 7 and 17 (against the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns, respectively) behind Jones while Roethlisberger recovered from an injury in the former contest and rested for the playoffs in the latter.

Following the Steelers' drafting of Joshua Dobbs in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, Mettenberger was released on May 1, 2017.[29]

Alternative leagues

Mettenberger has made attempts to rejoin the NFL. In 2018, he joined The Spring League in an attempt to gain attention and was assigned to the West team.[30]

Memphis Express

In August 2018, Mettenberger signed with the newly-formed Alliance of American Football's Memphis Express.[31] Later on November 27, Mettenberger was drafted by the Express in the fourth round of the 2019 AAF QB Draft.[32]

Mettenerger opened the 2019 AAF season as the third-string quarterback behind Christian Hackenberg and Brandon Silvers. For the third game of the year against the Orlando Apollos, he became the backup after Silvers suffered an injury, and entered the game during the second half to replace a struggling Hackenberg;[33] despite losing 21–17, Mettenberger threw for 120 yards and two touchdowns. On February 25, Express head coach Mike Singletary named Mettenberger the starter.[33][34] In his first start against the San Diego Fleet, he completed 18 of 25 passes for 174 yards and a passing touchdown, and also ran for another as Memphis won 26–23, the first victory in team history.[35]

Against the Salt Lake Stallions on March 16, Mettenberger was injured and replaced by Silvers. The Express announced the signing of quarterback Johnny Manziel soon after the game.[36] Mettenberger was placed on injured reserve on March 18. The league ceased operations in April 2019.[37]

2020

After being passed up in the 2020 XFL Draft, Mettenberger re-signed with The Spring League as starting quarterback for the Las Vegas Hughes, the host team.[38][39]

Mettenberger was selected by the Generals in The Spring League's player selection draft on October 12, 2020.[40]

Statistics
YearTeamLeagueGPGSPassingRushing
CmpAttPctYdsY/ATDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
2014TENNFL 7610717959.81,4127.98783.4540.80
2015TENNFL 7410116660.89355.64766.7980.91
2016PITNFL 00DNP
2019MEMAAF 43365466.74758.831105.1730.42
Career181324439961.22,8227.1151579.421150.73

Source:[41] [42]

Coaching career

In July 2020, Mettenberger was announced as the new offensive coordinator of the Hillsboro High School football team, having previously expressed interest in coaching at the school during his playing career.[43]

References
  1. Rivals.com
  2. Paschall, David. "Mettenberger links UGA, LSU", Chattanooga Times Free Press, November 30, 2011.
  3. Smith, Erick. "Former Georgia quarterback Zach Mettenberger pleads guilty to sexual battery", USA Today, May 4, 2010.
  4. Watson, Graham. "Zach Mettenberger hopes people will forget about his past and focus on his future", Yahoo! Sports, August 28, 2012.
  5. Zach Mettenberger back on track
  6. Former Georgia QB Zach Mettenberger returns to SEC with LSU
  7. Zach Mettenberger gets ready for his close-up at LSU
  8. Zach Mettenberger now No. 1 quarterback for LSU
  9. "Zach Mettenberger". espn.go.com. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  10. Zach Mettenberger Stats - LSU - ESPN
  11. LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger has torn ACL in left knee, will miss bowl game
  12. Zach Mettenberger shines at LSU Tigers pro day - ESPN
  13. "Zach Mettenberger". titansonline.com. Retrieved February 20, 2018.]
  14. "Zach Mettenberger". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  15. Rosenthal, Gregg (May 10, 2014). "Tennessee Titans draft Zach Mettenberger". nfl.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  16. "2014 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  17. "Wayne's big day helps Colts rout Titans 41-17". espn.go.com. September 28, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  18. Kuharsky, Paul (October 23, 2014). "Titans name Zach Mettenberger QB". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  19. Kuharsky, Paul (October 26, 2014). "Zach Mettenberger provided numbers and hope, but couldn't cure bad team". espn.go.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  20. Farrar, Doug (November 18, 2014). "Steelers go old-school, beat Titans with run game to move to 7-4". si.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  21. Gantt, Darin (December 8, 2014). "Zach Mettenberger expected to miss the rest of the season". profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  22. "Zach Mettenberger". pro-football-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  23. "Zach Mettenberger". nfl.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  24. "Titans' Zach Mettenberger: Week 16 start on tap". cbssports.com/. December 21, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  25. Wolf, Jason (May 16, 2016). "QB Zach Mettenberger released by Tennessee Titans". usatoday.com. USA Today. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  26. Wesseling, Chris (May 17, 2016). "Chargers claim Zach Mettenberger off waivers". NFL.com. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  27. NFL.com, 2016 NFL roster cuts tracker Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  28. Bergman, Jeremy. "Steelers claim Mettenberger, put Gradkowski on IR". NFL.com.
  29. Sessler, Marc. "Steelers cut Zach Mettenberger after drafting Dobbs". NFL.com. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  30. Dabe (April 5, 2018). "Former LSU QB Zach Mettenberger, Johnny Manziel to make spring league debuts Saturday". NOLA.com. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  31. Munz, Jason (August 1, 2018). "Alliance of American Football announces Memphis team has signed 28 players". The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  32. Crabtree, Curtis (November 27, 2018). "Christian Hackenberg, Scott Tolzien, Zach Mettenberger selected in AAF quarterback draft". Profootballtalk.com. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  33. Munz, Jason (February 25, 2019). "Zach Mettenberger will start at QB for Memphis Express vs. San Diego Fleet". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  34. Alper, Josh (February 24, 2019). "Zach Mettenberger "definitely excited" to play football again". Profootballtalk.com. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  35. Froyd, Crissy (March 3, 2019). "Former Titans QB Zach Mettenberger no longer winless as a starter after 26-23 victory over Fleet". USA Today. Titans Wire. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  36. Kercheval, Ben. "AAF Week 6 scores, highlights, updates: Hotshots stun Apollos, Stallions get win". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  37. Michael Rothstein, Seth Wickersham (June 13, 2019). "Inside the short, unhappy life of the Alliance of American Football". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  38. http://www.thespringleague.com/?p=5480
  39. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/former-lsu-qb-zach-mettenberger-looking-forward-to-getting-back-to-football-for-the-spring-league/ar-BB10f5jt
  40. @TheSpringLeague (October 12, 2020). "The #TSL2020 Generals QBs!" (Tweet). Retrieved November 3, 2020 – via Twitter.
  41. "Zach Mettenberger". pro-football-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  42. "Memphis Express Player Stats". aaf.com. Alliance of American Football. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  43. Kreager, Tom (July 16, 2020). "Former Tennessee Titans QB Zach Mettenberger joins Hillsboro football staff". The Tennessean. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
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