Published February 22, 2011 - 5:57am
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Saturday Down South begins its series on the top 20 players in the SEC for 2011 pre-season addition and will countdown until the number one overall player in the SEC is named for 2011.
Zach Mettenberger – No. 20
Zach Mettenberger is slightly accustomed to how the SEC does things, seeing as he’s now been on two SEC teams – Georgia and LSU. He was kicked out of school at Georgia after he was arrested following Spring Break. Several alcohol charges were dropped.
However, let’s move to on-the-field Mett.
After Georgia, he attended Butler Community College this past season. There, he was 177 of 299 passing for 2,678 yards, 32 touchdowns and four interceptions. He led Butler to the NJCAA championship game, but they lost on a fourth quarter interception from Mettenberger that clinched the game for the opposition.
Mettenberger has a cannon for an arm and stands tall, at 6-5 and 250lbs. Sounds familiar to Cam Newton’s stature, but less mobility and athleticism of course – not to mention a totally different quarterback. Mettenberger will stand tall in the pocket and deliver a strike to his receivers. Oh, and speaking of receivers, he has two of the best to throw to in Russell Shepard and Rueben Randle. Both should get a steady dose of the football this coming year for the Tigers – unlike last year with Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee splitting time at quarterback.
If Mettenberger can stay healthy, he will have dynamic firepower at receiver and in the running game to help take the load off his back. With Mettenberger, the Tigers instantly moved to National Championship talk.
Les Miles might get to graze the Astroturf in the Sugar Bowl next year playing for the National Championship. He has to be giddy about his 2011 team.
At this point, and considering all of the players each team has returning, LSU would be the natural pick to win the SEC and BCS Championships in 2011. The only thing hampering them in 2010 was an anemic offense, but with a new offensive coordinator, who is also one of the best in the nation at developing QBs, and the signing of Mettenberger, LSU should be even better than they were in 2010.
Ol’ Jordan Jefferson still gets no love.
Should be interesting to see how this all plays out for Mettenberger.
He’s got all the tools for sure.
And if he thought Georgia was a drinking school, wait until he hits Baton Rouge on a Saturday night.
Have mercy!!
Cam Newton wannabee! He wishes he was as good as Cam. War Damn Eagle!
Zach will have a chance at something Cam never did… a legitimate BCS title.
I could have sworn Cam already won the game, as a matter of fact I am sure he did I still have it on my DVR it said the game took place January 10th, 2011. You must have slept the day away I guess.
He has yet to play a down. He’s being set up for the Okie Doke!
excuse me… he has already played for 3 colleges and in a national chamionship game
Who’s number #19??
#19 is coming tomorrow.
this is stupid, with the talent rich sec it is hard to believe that a player that has yet to take a snap for lsu is the 20th best player. he probably wont even be the 20th best player on lsu next season, this is just stupid.
It’s called projections. I think Mettenberger has a shot to be a top 10 caliber player in the SEC next year.
Booooooo. Mettenberger? C’mon dude hasn’t stepped foot on a SEC field short of holding a clipboard. Save this particular projection for 2012. The others so far seem pretty spot on.