Matt Grothe
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| No. 8 | |||||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | September 8, 1986 Lakeland, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Lake Gibson (Lakeland, Florida) | ||||||||||
| College: | South Florida (2005–2009) | ||||||||||
| Undrafted: | 2010 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
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| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||
| Career Arena statistics | |||||||||||
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| Player stats at ArenaFan.com | |||||||||||
Matt Grothe (born September 8, 1986) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at South Florida.
Early years
Grothe attended
College career
2005 season
Grothe spent the 2005 campaign as a redshirt behind then-quarterback Pat Julmiste.
2006 season
The 2006 season marked Grothe's first action on the football team after redshirting all of USF's 2005 bowl season. He won the starting quarterback spot over senior Pat Julmiste in the first game of 2006 against McNeese State. The national buzz continued for Grothe, the 2006 Big East Conference Rookie of the Year, after he led his team to an upset of No. 7 West Virginia on the road in Morgantown, West Virginia. In his first post-season appearance, he led USF to the 2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl against East Carolina. Although Grothe missed the entire second half of the game with a shin injury (after being up 24–7), the Bulls claimed their first-ever bowl victory by a score of 24–7.
Sports television channel ESPN named Grothe the "biggest surprise" in all of the Big East for the 2006 football season. In total offensive yards, Grothe accumulated an average of 246 yards per game, second to only Louisville's Brian Brohm in 2006 Big East play. Nationally, he ranked seventeenth in total offense for 2006 and was the 2nd ranked freshman in the country in that category.[1]
2007 season
Grothe was named to the Maxwell Award watch list, the first USF player ever named to the list. Grothe was also named to the Manning Award watch list, given to college football's top quarterback. Grothe led the Bulls to a 9–4 record in the 2007 season, including a 26–23 victory over No. 18 Auburn in Alabama on September 8, 2007(also his 21st birthday) and a 21–13 victory over No. 5 West Virginia at home on September 29, 2007. On October 14, 2007, Grothe was at the helm as the Bulls rose to a No. 2 BCS ranking in the nation, the highest school ranking in history.[2] The team ended the 2007 regular season ranked 21st in the BCS.
Grothe broke his own record for passing yards in a game with 382 in a 38–33 loss to Cincinnati, and had a career-long 80-yard touchdown run against Pittsburgh on November 24, 2007. He finished the 2007 regular season with 22 all-purpose touchdowns against only 14 interceptions.
Grothe and the Bulls accepted an invitation to the
2008 season
Entering 2008, Grothe was named to both the Maxwell Award preseason watch list and the
2009 season
Grothe started the 2009 season with wins against Wofford and Western Kentucky. However, on September 19, 2009, during a game against Charleston Southern University, Grothe injured his left knee just before halftime. The next day, it was announced Grothe would miss the remainder of the 2009 season due to a torn ACL.
College statistics
| Season | Team | GP | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | TD | |||
| 2006 | South Florida | 13 | 202 | 317 | 63.7 | 2,576 | 15 | 14 | 138.8 | 178 | 622 | 9 |
| 2007 | South Florida | 13 | 232 | 392 | 59.2 | 2,670 | 14 | 14 | 121.0 | 198 | 872 | 10 |
| 2008 | South Florida | 13 | 240 | 380 | 63.2 | 2,911 | 18 | 14 | 135.8 | 146 | 591 | 4 |
| 2009 | South Florida | 3 | 43 | 59 | 72.9 | 512 | 5 | 2 | 167.0 | 23 | 121 | 0 |
| Career | 42 | 717 | 1,148 | 62.4 | 8,669 | 52 | 44 | 140.7 | 545 | 2,206 | 23 | |
Records and accolades
At South Florida, Grothe surpassed 3,000 yards of total offense in his first full season and passed for more than 2,400, breaking both
- 2006 Big East Rookie of the Year
- 2006 Sporting NewsBig East Freshman of the Year
- 2006 Sporting News Big East All-Freshman Team
- 2006 Scout.com All-American Freshman Team (2nd team)
- 2006 Tampa Tribune Big East Freshman of the Year
- 2007 Nationalchamps.net Heisman Watch Candidate
- 2007 Maxwell Award Watch List
- 2007 Manning Award Watch List
- 2008 Maxwell Award Watch List (2nd time)
- 2008 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List
- 2008 Big East Offensive Player of the Week on 9/8/2008
- 2008 Big East Offensive Player of the Week on 9/29/2008
- 2008 St. Petersburg BowlMVP of the Game
Professional career
Florida Tuskers
After going
Toronto Argonauts
On October 6, 2010, Grothe signed a practice roster agreement with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He was released by the Argonauts on November 4, 2010. As of December 8, Grothe was put back on the Argos 2011 roster.[4] On May 27, 2011, Grothe was released once more by the Argonauts.
Tampa Bay Storm
Grothe made his Arena Football League debut on July 16, 2011. He took over in the third quarter against the Georgia Force and went on to throw 5 touchdown passes. On his first pass attempt, he connected for a 40-yard score. Former South Florida teammate Amarri Jackson caught three of Grothe's five touchdown passes. In his 2 appearances with the Storm, Grothe completed 38 passes of 67 attempts for 440 yards with 10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
Orlando Predators
He signed with the Predators on June 6, 2012.
References
- NCAA. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ Tremper, Jake (2007-10-14). "South Florida Football grabs no. 2 ranking in the BCS". Bulls Radio. Archived from the original on 2007-12-26. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ "Florida Tuskers cut former USF standout QB Matt Grothe". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
- ^ "Argos give young QB a chance". thestar.com. Toronto. December 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-08.