Matthew Brent Blundin (born March 7, 1969) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

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. He was a

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quarterback for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

during the 1990s. He played both

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

and college basketball at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

College career

Blundin was a heavily recruited athlete by a number of colleges during his time in

Ridley High School Ridley High School serves the Ridley School District. It is located in Folsom, Pennsylvania, United States. The new high school opened in September 2001. In the 2017–2018 school year, Ridley High School had 1,787 students. History The origina ...

. A standout in both football and basketball, Blundin once dunked on

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blogger Andrew "McLovin" Perloff who played at

Lower Merion High School Lower Merion High School is a public high school in Ardmore, a community in Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs. It is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other one is Harriton High School. Lower Merion serves both Lowe ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

recruited the Pennsylvania native to play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, however he enrolled at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

since he was promised the opportunity to play

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

in addition to football. Blundin had limited basketball

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skills but was a valuable interior defender and rebounder for the Cavalier basketball team. In 1989, Blundin was part of a Virginia team that advanced to the

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of the NCAA Tournament. In football, Blundin was the primary back-up to

Shawn Moore Shawn Levique Moore (born April 4, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers ...

from 1988 to 1990 and made two starts when Moore was injured. In the first game of the 1991 season, Virginia, which had an explosive offense in 1990, was only able to score 6 points in a loss at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Blundin then developed a serious

bacterial infection Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and are often beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of ...

in his throwing arm that forced him to miss the next two games, a win over

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

and a narrow road loss to highly ranked

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. Although backup Bobby Goodman performed well, especially against Georgia Tech, coach George Welsh did not hesitate to restore Blundin as the starter. Both Blundin and the Cavaliers thrived for the remainder of the regular season, with the only setback a tie at Clemson. The Cavaliers finished the regular season 8–2–1 and were invited to the

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

, where they suffered a lopsided loss to the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

. Blundin's most noteworthy accomplishment during his college career was that he threw 224 passes over the entire 1991 regular season without throwing a single

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. He also led the

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passing efficiency Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

that year and was named the ACC player of the year.

Statistics

''Source'':

Professional career

Despite Blundin's limited starting experience, his strong arm and 6'7" height resulted in him being drafted in the second round of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott Mar ...

by the

. In 1995, he was allocated to the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

. Blundin received limited playing time in his career as a backup for the Chiefs and later the

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broadcaster

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gave him the nickname Matt "Werewolves of" Blundin which was inspired by the song "

Werewolves of London "Werewolves of London" is a rock song performed by American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon. It was composed by Zevon, LeRoy Marinell and Waddy Wachtel and was included on ''Excitable Boy'' (1978), Zevon's third solo album. The track featured ...

" by

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician. Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Tho ...

. Blundin concluded his professional career with the Detroit Lions as the third-string quarterback in 1997. In week 11 against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, Blundin entered the game in the fourth quarter after injuries to starting quarterback Scott Mitchell and backup quarterback

Frank Reich Frank Michael Reich Jr. (; ; born December 4, 1961) is an American football coach and former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Maryland a ...

. Blundin attempted one pass, his first since 1994, which was intercepted by Redskins safety Darryl Pounds and returned for a touchdown.

NFL statistics

''Source'':

Personal life

In January 2016, Blundin was named the athletic director at

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 405. Students come from 28 U.S. states (plus the District of Columbia ...

, an all-male boarding school near Orange, Virginia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blundin, Matt 1969 births Living people American football quarterbacks Detroit Lions players Scottish Claymores players Kansas City Chiefs players Virginia Cavaliers football players Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball players People from Darby, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Delaware County, Pennsylvania American men's basketball players Ridley High School alumni