Matt Scott (American football)

Matt Scott
No. 5, 8
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1990-09-20) September 20, 1990 (age 34)
Corona, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school:Corona (CA) Centennial
College:Arizona
Undrafted:2013
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Pro Football Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at CFL.ca (archive)

Matt Scott (born September 20, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. Scott was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013.[1]

Early life

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Scott attended Centennial high school in Corona, California. 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. Scott then led his team to the state championship game where they lost 31–37 to De La Salle.[2] Before his senior season began Scott committed to Arizona. He chose Arizona over Minnesota and various other programs.[3] He was rated a four star prospect by Rivals.com and the fifth ranked dual threat quarterback in the country.[4] He is the youngest of four boys, three of which played quarterback at his high school, Centennial.

College career

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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.[5]

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 he was pulled in favor of backup Nick Foles. Scott played poorly against Iowa completing only four passes and throwing an interception for a total of 50 yards.[6] 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' 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.[7] 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. After the first two games Scott did not see any action again until the Washington State game. Foles left the game with an injury that would turn out to be a dislocated knee.[8] 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 by thirty points and going to UCLA to win there. Foles came back for the next game against Stanford 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 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.[9] Scott flourished with Rodriguez as head coach. He passed for more than 3,000 yards and threw 21 touchdowns.[10] Following an upset of Oklahoma State Arizona entered the top 25 rankings. They completed another big upset when they beat preseason favorite USC in Tucson. 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 records for attempts and completions and passed for 491 yards against Stanford. The 491 yards is third in school history.[11] He finished his career with a win against Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl. 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.[12]

Statistics

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Season Games Passing Rushing
GP GS Cmp Att Pct Yds TD Int Lng Y/G Att Yds Avg TD Lng Y/G
2008 6 0 7 11 63.6 84 1 0 26 14.0 23 188 8.2 2 36 31.3
2009 9 3 41 73 56.2 441 1 3 25 49.0 41 309 7.5 0 27 34.3
2010 7 2 66 93 71.0 776 4 2 41 110.9 35 135 3.9 0 32 19.3
2011 0 0 Redshirted
2012 12 12 301 499 60.3 3,620 27 14 63 301.7 113 506 4.5 6 24 42.2
Career 34 17 415 676 61.4 4,921 33 19 63 129.5 212 1,138 5.4 8 36 29.9

Professional career

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Jacksonville Jaguars

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Following the 2013 NFL draft, Scott was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars.[13] 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

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He was claimed off waivers by the Cincinnati Bengals the next day.[14] The Bengals waived Scott on August 26, 2014.[15]

Edmonton Eskimos

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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

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  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 8, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Centennial High School (Corona, CA) 2007 Football Schedule". Maxpreps.com. December 15, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  3. ^ Moredich, John (June 23, 2007). "UA signs top-10 quarterback for 2008". Tucson Citizen. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  4. ^ "Matt Scott - Yahoo! Sports". Rivals.yahoo.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  5. ^ "Matt Scott 2008 Player Statistics - Arizona Wildcats". cfbstats.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  6. ^ "Matt Scott 2009 Player Statistics - Arizona Wildcats". cfbstats.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  7. ^ Ryan Finley Arizona Daily Star (July 1, 2010). "Dean's transfer opens a big door for Crump at receiver position". Azstarnet.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  8. ^ "Arizona loses quarterback Nick Foles over dislocated knee". Content.usatoday.com. October 18, 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  9. ^ "Rich Rodriguez has better chance at Arizona than Michigan - Stewart Mandel - SI.com". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. November 21, 2011. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  10. ^ "Matt Scott 2012 Player Statistics - Arizona Wildcats". cfbstats.com. January 27, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  11. ^ "Arizona Football Week Seven Media Release" (PDF). Arizona Athletic Communications Services. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2014. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  12. ^ "Nevada Wolf Pack vs. Arizona Wildcats - Box Score - December 15, 2012 - ESPN". ESPN. December 15, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  13. ^ "Jaguars add 23 undrafted rookie free agents".
  14. ^ "NEWS". Retrieved May 16, 2014 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ "Notes: Tez, Geno looking at Sept. 7; Schaffer, Scott waived;Lewis mum on Thursday starters". Archived from the original on August 27, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
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