Matthew Stafford
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988 in Tampa, FL) plays quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs in the NCAA college football tournament. Prior to signing with the University of Georgia in the collegiate level, Stafford was a highly decorated quarterback playing for Highland Park in the high school level with several publications ranking him as a top 2 quarterback prospect. Scouts have pointed to his strong arm and size as his greatest strength but his mobility is not to be overlooked as he has shown a great amount of improvement in that aspect during his sophomore year. In two seasons with the Dawgs, Stafford has completed 329 of 604 passes 4,272 yards and 26 touchdowns.
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Personal Life
Matthew was born to father John and mother Margaret in Tampa, Florida and lived in Dunwoody for 2 1/2 years while his father was finishing graduate school at Georgia. The family, including his older sister Page (also a UGa. student), then moved to the Park Cities near downtown Dallas. As a kid, Matthew played different sports, including baseball. But the pigskin seemed more appealing to him as he watch and emulate NFL greats John Elway and Brett Favre. When he is not at school, where he majors in Speech Communications at the University of Georgia, or on the field, Matthew likes to spend his spare time playing golf.
High School
Stafford attended Highland Park High School where he played under coach Randy Allen. As a sophomore, the 6-foot-3, 237 pound playcaller finished the season with 2,945 yards and 36 touchdowns. One of his breakout games that year was against powerhouse Ennis High in the Class 4A Division I regional semifinals on November of 2003, where he passed for 403 yards and three scoring passes in leading Highland Park to a 38-28 win in front of over 20,000 fans at the Texas Stadium. The following year, with teams utilizing three-man fronts to take away his long passing, Stafford's number dipped to 1,748 yards and 18 TDs but was still good enough for a spot at the Rivals.com Junior All-America Team. The summer of his senior playing year, Stafford attended a four-day California-based EA Sports Elite 11 Camp for America's top high school quarterbacks to furthermore improve his quarterbacking skills. Despite missing the first two games of his senior year with a dislocated knee cap, Stafford still passed for 4,018 yards on 209 of 322 completion with 38 touchdowns to go along with his 212 rush yards and 8 scoring runs on 42 carries to lead his team to the Class AAAA championship, its first title since 1957. One of his highlight games that year was his performance at the 2005 state playoffs, passing for 411 yards and 4 scores as he revived Highland Park from a 0-17 deficit to a 38-31 win.
Among his high school accomplishments include a Most Outstanding Player honors during the Tom Landry Classic, a Student Sports All-American and All-District. Stafford, the recipient of the Dave Campbell Texas Football Class AAAA Player of the Year and TexasFootball.com's Mr. Texas for Class AAAA awards, was also chosen to play in the U.S. Army All-American Game. A three-time All-State selection, Stafford also bagged the EA Sports National and the Gatorade State Football Player of the Year awards as well as the Dallas Morning News All-Area Offensive Player of the Year honors. He was also chosen to be part of the USA Today Pre-Season Super 25 and PrepStar100 and was also selected to the SuperPrep All-America, and Parade Magazine All-America Teams. With his remarkable high school resume, Stafford became a highly ranked high school prospect with Rivals.com, ESPN, Scout.com, and PrepStar ranking him as the no.1, no.2, no.2 and no.3 quarterback in the nation, respectively.
College
Stafford chose to commit to the University of Georgia in May over Texas, Florida State, Michigan and Oklahoma because of coach Mark Richt. Texas was said to be his no.2 choice. In the process, he became UGa.'s first five-star recruit from Texas since Sterling Boyd was recruited in the early 90's.
2006
Stafford graduated in high school early to enroll at Georgia in January. As a rookie, Stafford became the first Georgia true freshman to start for the Bulldogs since Quincy Carter did in 1998 and the first signal caller out of high school to start since Eric Zeier 1991. He however had to compete with three other QBs in Joe Tereshinski, Blake Barnes and Joe Cox for the starting role but made a case during the spring game after going 5-for-12 for 102 yards and one touchdown. In his first collegiate game, Stafford threw 5 passes, completing 3 for 40 yards and a TD with 1 rush for 19 yards in the lopsided season-opening win over Western Kentucky. His first 100-yard game came the following week in a win over South Carolina, tossing 171 yards on 8-for-19 completion but had a season-low three interceptions. Over a month later, he went 20-for-32 for a career-high 267 yards with 2 TDs and 3 INTs against Mississippi State to claim SEC Freshman of the Week honors. He claimed the same award in a game against 5th ranked Auburn, completing 14 of 20 passes for 219 yards and a TD while rushing for a career high 83 yards and a scoring run on 7 carries in a win over the Tigers. In the regular season finale against 16th ranked Georgia Tech, Stafford went 16-of-29 for 171 yards and a TD as he led the Dawgs to a close 15-12 win to improve Georgia's record to 8-4. His postseason debut against 14th ranked Virginia Tech netted him the Chick-fil-A Bowl Offensive MVP honors after leading the Dawgs comeback from a 3-21 halftime deficit to a 31-24 win.
Stafford, the recipient of the Dr. and Mrs. Howard Williams, III, Football Scholarship ended his freshman year completing 135 of 256 passes for 1,749 yards and 7 TDs with 13 INTs and a 108.99 rating. Aside from earning All-SEC Freshman Team accolades from the league coaches, he was also awarded with the team's Offensive Newcomer of the Year honors.
2007
By his sophomore season, Stafford already had the lock on the starting QB position, as he played QB-1 in all 12 regular season games. During the annual spring G-Day game, Stafford completed six of 12 passes for 155 yards and two TDs. In the season-opener, he threw 234 yards on 18-for-24 completion with 2 touchdowns as he led the Dawgs to a win over Oklahoma State. The following week, Stafford managed to throw 213 yards on 19-for-44 completion but was held to 0 TDs in the loss to South Carolina. Stafford racked up triple digit passing yards in all but one game (against Kentucky, with only 99 yards), set a new personal best in pass attempts at 35 against Alabama, and tossed for a career-long 84 yards against 9th ranked Florida. In his second straight postseason appearance, Stafford went 14-of-23 for 175 yards and 1 TD to help the Dawgs take care of the previously unbeaten Hawai'i at the AllState Sugar Bowl.
Stafford finished the year with 2,523 passing yards on 194-for-348 completion with 19 TDs, 10 INTs, and a 128.92 rating. He also had eight 200-yard passing games and passed a TD in all but two of Georgia's games.
Highlights
| Matthew Stafford's 2007 SECSports player profile (SportSouth). |
Achievements
2007
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #5 QB in the SEC
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #17 QB in the nation (Preseason)
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #16 Player in the SEC (Preseason)
- Phil Steele's All-SEC Honorable Mention
2006
- Chick-fil-A Bowl Offensive MVP
- Georgia's Offensive Newcomer of the Year Award
- Rivals.com National Freshman of the Week (vs. Auburn)
- SEC Coaches' All-Freshman Team
- SEC freshman of the week (vs. Mississippi State, vs. Auburn)
References
- Matthew Stafford a good bet
- Matthew Stafford Georgia Profile
- Matthew Stafford Q/A
- Matthew Stafford Stats @ ESPN.com
- Matthew Stafford Wikipedia
