Matt Scott (born September 20, 1990) 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 ...

. Scott was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in 2013.

High school career

Scott attended

Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

high school in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...

. His senior year, he led his football team to a 9-1 regular season record, his only loss came to Mater Dei who was led by quarterback

Matt Barkley Matthew Montgomery Barkley (born September 8, 1990) is an American football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth roun ...

. Scott then led his team to the state championship game where they lost 31-37 to De La Salle. Before his senior season began Scott committed to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. He chose Arizona over

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and various other programs. He was rated a four star prospect by

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and the fifth ranked dual threat quarterback in the country. He is the youngest of four boys, three of which played quarterback at his high school, Centennial.

College career

In his freshman season Scott was the backup to senior Willie Tuitama and was used mostly as a change of pace quarterback who could run the ball. In this role Scott gained 188 yards rushing averaging 8 yards per carry and scoring two touchdowns. In his limited opportunities to pass he completed 7 of his 11 attempts for 84 yards and 1 touchdown. Scott was the starting quarterback entering the 2009 season. He got the Wildcats off to a 2-0 start in the 2009 season, however in the third game of the season against

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

he was pulled in favor of backup

Nick Foles Nicholas Edward Foles (born January 20, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Arizona and was selected in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft ...

. Scott played poorly against Iowa completing only four passes and throwing an interception for a total of 50 yards. Scott played sparingly the rest of the year. He saw some action in a blowout win against Washington State, a blowout bowl loss to Nebraska, and was used as a change of pace quarterback to run in other games. Foles however had established himself as the starting quarterback and the best option to run offensive coordinator

Sonny Dykes Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Meth ...

' pass heavy offense. Entering the 2010 season Scott was the backup quarterback to Foles following Foles' superior play after Scott's benching the previous season. In the summer before the 2010 season Scott said that he "can't stand sitting on the bench" and that he had "never been a bench warmer since Pop Warner." He also said that he was open to a possible position switch to wide receiver so that he could play. Scott got to play in the first two games of the season after Arizona had gained a sizable lead against their opponents Toledo and

Citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

. After the first two games Scott did not see any action again until the

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

game. Foles left the game with an injury that would turn out to be a dislocated knee. Scott came in and was able to fend off Washington State and secure a win. Scott would start the next two games while Foles recovered from his injury. In the two games Scott started in Foles' absence Arizona won both times beating

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

by thirty points and going to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

to win there. Foles came back for the next game against

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

and Scott was relegated back to his backup role. The Wildcats concluded the season on a 5-game losing streak finishing 7-6. During the 2011 season Scott redshirted while Foles would start every game. Foles played close to every snap and a backup quarterback was rarely used. By redshirting Scott got the opportunity to come back for a fifth season and have the possibility of starting, rather than running out of eligibility as a backup quarterback.

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem Uni ...

was hired to be the new head coach of the Wildcats for the 2012 season. This was seen as a positive for Scott who many saw as a perfect fit for Rodriguez's spread option offense because of his speed and mobility. Scott flourished with Rodriguez as head coach. He passed for more than 3,000 yards and threw 21 touchdowns. Following an upset of

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

Arizona entered the top 25 rankings. They completed another big upset when they beat preseason favorite

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. Scott played this game on his parents 27th anniversary and dedicated the win to them. He stated that his parents were at every game he played in and was thankful to have the family support he had during this crazy ride in Arizona. Scott's greatest statistical performance of the season came in defeat however. Against Stanford he set school and

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

records for attempts and completions and passed for 491 yards against

. The 491 yards is third in school history. He finished his career with a win against

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in the

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Owned and operated by ESPN ...

. He engineered a 17-point fourth quarter comeback in the game, throwing for three touchdowns in the final quarter to help Arizona win 49-48.

Statistics

;Passing: ;Rushing:

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Following the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

, Scott was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

. He was released on August 30, 2013 and signed to the team's practice squad on September 1. He was signed to the active roster at the conclusion of the 2013 regular season. Scott was released on May 15, 2014.

Cincinnati Bengals

He was claimed off waivers by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

the next day. The Bengals waived Scott on August 26, 2014.

Edmonton Eskimos

Scott was signed to the practice roster of the Edmonton Eskimos on October 7, 2014. He dressed for the team's final regular season game. He was released by the Eskimos on April 27, 2015.

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bioEdmonton Eskimos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Matt 1990 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arizona Wildcats football players Cincinnati Bengals players Edmonton Elks players Jacksonville Jaguars players Sportspeople from Corona, California Players of American football from California