Matt Grothe (born September 8, 1986) is a former

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 ...

. He played

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 ...

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

Early years

Grothe attended

Lake Gibson High School Lake Gibson High School is located in Lakeland, Florida, and was established in 1979. Athletics Lake Gibson offers a wide variety of sports for boys and girls including: Baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, weightl ...

in Lakeland, Florida and was a letterman in football. In football, he was a two-time first team Class 4A All-State selection, was named the

Lakeland Ledger ''The Ledger'' is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida, and the Polk County area. The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as the ''Lakeland Evening Ledger''. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning ''Lakeland Star-Telegram' ...

Player of the Year twice, and as a senior, he was named to the Super Southern 100 by the

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

, was named the Class 4A Player of the Year, finished 2nd by the closest margin ever for Mr. Football in the state of Florida, and was named the Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year. Grothe led his team to the state championship football game against

Armwood High School Armwood Senior High School is a public high school located in Seffner, Florida, United States, on U.S. Highway 92. It opened in August 1984. The school is named after Blanche Armwood, a longtime Tampa resident, educator and activist. The school's ...

. Grothe passed for 2,700 yards and ran for 1,250 yards as a senior. He passed for 33 touchdowns and rushed for 15 touchdowns. After his senior season, he was named the 21st best prospect in Florida by the

Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...

, named the 23rd best prospect in Florida by the

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

, and

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

ranked him as the 24th best dual-threat quarterback in the country and 93rd best overall prospect in the state of Florida. Grothe graduated from Lake Gibson High School in 2005 with a 4.0

grade point average Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

. He also began studying karate as a child and eventually obtained a 2nd degree black belt.

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 McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. ...

. The national buzz continued for Grothe, the 2006

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

Rookie of the Year, after he led his team to an upset of No. 7

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

on the road in

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...

. In his first post-season appearance, he led USF to the PapaJohns.com Bowl against

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

. 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 ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

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 Brian Joseph Brohm (born September 23, 1985) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the interim head coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for Purdue University. He played college football at Louisv ...

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.

2007 season

Grothe was named to the

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best all ...

watch list, the first USF player ever named to the list. Grothe was also named to the

Manning Award The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that incl ...

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 Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

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. 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 Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, and had a career-long 80-yard touchdown run against

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

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

Brut Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bo ...

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

where they lost to the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

on December 31, 2007.

2008 season

Entering 2008, Grothe was named to both the Maxwell Award preseason watch list and the

Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National C ...

watch list. He finished the season with career highs in touchdown passes (18), passing yards (2,911), completions (240), and passing yards per game (223.9). He also led the team with 591 yards rushing and four rushing touchdowns. Grothe led the Big East in total offense (269.4 yards per game), and ranked 21st nationally in that category.

2009 season

Grothe started the 2009 season with wins against Wofford and

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. However, on September 19, 2009, during a game against

Charleston Southern University Charleston Southern University (CSU) is a private Baptist university in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention ( Southern Baptist Convention). History Charleston Southern University was ch ...

, 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

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 school records formerly held by Marquel Blackwell. On December 1, 2006, the

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

magazine named Grothe the 2006 Big East Freshman of the Year, as well as naming him to the Big East All-Freshman team. The

also named Grothe the Big East Rookie of the Year. *2006 Big East Rookie of the Year *2006

Big East Freshman of the Year *2006 Sporting News Big East All-Freshman Team *2006

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

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 Bowl The Gasparilla Bowl is an annual NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game played in the Tampa Bay area. It was first played in 2008 as the St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game was renamed the G ...

MVP of the Game

Professional career

Florida Tuskers

After going

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

, Grothe signed with the

Florida Tuskers Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

of the United Football League on June 4, 2010. He was released by the Tuskers on September 6, 2010.

Toronto Argonauts

On October 6, 2010, Grothe signed a practice roster agreement with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. He was released by the Argonauts on November 4, 2010. As of December 8, Grothe was put back on the Argos 2011 roster. On May 27, 2011, Grothe was released once more by the Argonauts.

Tampa Bay Storm

Grothe made his

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

debut on July 16, 2011. He took over in the third quarter against the

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Je ...

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 Amarri Nathaniel Jackson (born May 18, 1985) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. Early life Jackson attended Riverview High School, in Sarasota, Florida, where he earned four varsity letters in football, three ...

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

External links

Just Sports StatsOfficial websiteSouth Florida Bulls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grothe, Matt Living people 1986 births Sportspeople from Lakeland, Florida Players of American football from Florida American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football South Florida Bulls football players Florida Tuskers players Tampa Bay Storm players Orlando Predators players Toronto Argonauts players