Quarterback Zach Mettenberger has been dismissed from the Georgia Bulldogs football team, Mark Richt and UGA announced today.
Mettenberger, a redshirt freshman, was competing for the starting quarterback position with fellow redshirt freshman Aaron Murray and junior Logan Gray.
The dismissal is apparently related to his March 7 arrest in Remerton, Georgia. Mettenberger was arrested outside of a bar and charged with underage possession/consumption of alcohol, disorderly conduct, obstruction and two counts of false identification.
Details from the arrest have not been made public, and no additional charges against Mettenberger have been filed. But rumors persist that there were other charges being considered and that the investigation is still ongoing. Perhaps Mark Richt was made aware of these circumstances and decided to go ahead and send Zach packing.
The 2010 Bulldogs are suddenly thinner at quarterback, and it appears that Aaron Murray will be the starter on September 4. Logan Gray should be the no. 2, but he didn’t impress in his limited appearances in 2009.
Beyond that, the only other quarterback that will be on the roster in the fall is true freshman Hutson Mason of Marietta, Georgia.
What do you think of Mettenberger’s dismissal? Is Aaron Murray a shoe-in for the starting quarterback position? Discuss it in the comments below.
Related Links
- UGA Freshman QB Zach Mettenberger Dismissed – GeorgiaDogs.com
- Quarterback Dismissed ($) – UGASports.com
- Mettenberger Dismissed From Team – Bulldogs Blog
- Zach Mettenberger Dismissed From Georgia Bulldogs – DawgSports.com
View Comments (11)
WOW!! didnt see this coming he looked really good at the spring game. Theres gotta be more to this than just drinking. I feel bad for this guy he was goanna be good.
How disappointing.....we were looking forward to a local kid making it in the SEC.....as Evan indicated, there must have been a whole lot more we don't know about.....he looked so good in the G-Day game. If he deserves it, shame on him because he knew the rules, but it's still hard to see a young kid make one mistake and get tossed...
well what can we say? this isnt the university of floria. coach Richt has standards and i think it serves to his credit to see he won't bend them on who has committed the violation. Zach should have been thinking about his future and what it means to wear the red and black. oh well, guess he'll learn now. Murray is definately our guy now. We'll be fine.
murry is a good and a well QB to have he doesnt get in trouble accurate and he is relaxed, yes yes everybody says Metterbnurgh has the arm but right now to beat the key games we need would be murry he doesnt have the arm like metternburg but he sure does have a bullet so watch out GATORS!
Aaron murry would have taken over regardless
One (seemingly minor) violation and kicked off the team indefinitely? How many people drank underage in public, especially UGA students? So he was publicly drunk and unruly, which is a stupid move, but he didn't hurt (or almost hurt) anyone physically from the reports I read. Sounds like he was just being a jerk in public. What's the rest of the story? I think we deserve a more detailed response from UGA as their "customer".
We dont need a detailed response as he is under age and it is none of our business what else he did, thats between him and law enforcement and UGA. Whatever it was, it obviously was bad enough to go ahead and get him tossed off the team, drinking underage is bad enough, just because he didnt hurt anyone doesnt mean it was right, and he did hurt someone, himself and his team.
Drinking underage goes on everywhere, don't act like that is some terrible thing.
As someone who actually watched the G-day game, I hoped that Aaron Murray would live up to the pre-game hype. However, based on performance that day, Zach was clearly the best quarterback on the field. I tend to agree with Aaron's comments above that if something more serious had occurred, charges should have been filed by now. Other athletes on the team that have been recently arrested on felony charges and been given multiple chances. My take is CMR threw Mettenberger under the bus and continues to make poor decisions regarding how the UGA football program is run.
Mettenberger must have threatened someone or made some very rude or suggestive comments to get tossed off the team like that? Maybe he was such an arrogant jerk that the coaches had had enough? Whatever it was, he did something to fall out of the good graces of CMR. CMR has always had a calm demeanor and is notorious for giving second chances (even when not deserved). Zach did something, that's for sure! What a waste!I would like to know why exactly he got tossed!