hot news today's: matthew stafford

Early years

Stafford was born in Tampa, Florida to John and Margaret Stafford. He lived in Dunwoody, Georgia while his father attended graduate school at the University of Georgia . His family then moved to Dallas, Texas , where Stafford attended Highland Park High School , where he was coached by Randy Allen and was widely considered to be one of the best high school quarterbacks in the United States in the class of 2006.

Stafford made his varsity debut in the 2002 playoffs against Kilgore High . He lettered in baseball where he was teammates with future Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw , but after a disappointing junior season in which he threw for only 1,748 yards, 18 TDs and 11 INTs, Stafford quit the baseball team to concentrate on football.

Stafford received numerous accolades including being named to the Parade All-America Team and the USA Today Pre-Season Super 25 in 2005 . He also won the MVP and Best Arm awards at the 2005 EA Sports Elite 11 Quarterback Camp and was named the 2005 EA Sports National Player of the Year. Analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. predicted, before he had even started a game at the collegiate level, that Stafford would eventually be the first pick in the NFL Draft .

College career

"	Matthew Stafford eventually will be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. Write that down.	"
—Football analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. on ESPN Radio in September 2006.

Freshman

Stafford graduated from high school early and enrolled at UGA in January, where he became the first true freshman Bulldog QB to start since Quincy Carter (1998) and first out of high school to start since Eric Zeier (1991). Stafford wore number 7 at Georgia. He completed five of 12 passes for 102 yards and one TD in a Georgia spring game. Stafford debuted late in the season opener of the 2006 season against Western Kentucky and went 3 of 5 passing for 40 yards and a touchdown pass. During the season's third game, against South Carolina, starting quarterback Joe Tereshinski III was injured, forcing Stafford to come off the bench. Although Stafford completed just 8 of 19 passes for 171 yards and three interceptions, Georgia won the game, 18-0. Against the UAB Blazers the following week, Stafford made his first career starting appearance. Georgia won this game as well, 34-0. Victories over Colorado and Mississippi ran Georgia's record to 5-0, but the heart of the conference loomed.

The rest of the season was up and down for Stafford and the Bulldogs. Following home losses to both Tennessee and Vanderbilt, Coach Richt named Stafford the starter for the rest of the season ahead of Tereshinski. Stafford completed 20 of 32 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns in the 27-24 triumph over Mississippi State , and for his efforts was named the SEC Freshmen of the Week. Statistically, he had his best game of the season against the 5th-ranked Auburn Tigers. Stafford finished the game 14-20 for 219 yards with a touchdown, as well as 83 rushing yards on 7 carries and a touchdown in Georgia's 37-15 upset win. The following week, Stafford led the Bulldogs on a 12-play, 64-yard drive and threw the game-winning touchdown pass in Georgia's 15-12 win over No. 16 Georgia Tech.

Stafford capped his freshman season by leading Georgia to a 31-24 come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, a game in which the Bulldogs trailed 21-3 at halftime. Stafford threw for 129 yards and a second half touchdown to spark the comeback.

Sophomore

He threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs cruised past the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the season opener, Georgia won its first game of the season for an 11th consecutive season. Against the Alabama Crimson Tide , the Dawgs avoided an 0–2 start in SEC play by escaping Bryant-Denny Stadium with an overtime win. Stafford connected with senior wide receiver Mikey Henderson on the Bulldogs' first play from scrimmage in OT for the winning score. He completed 11-of-18 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns, including a career-long TD pass of 84 yards to Mohamed Massaquoi , which was the longest pass completion in the SEC in 2007, and a 53-yard TD pass to Henderson vs. No. 9 Florida . The wins over Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech marked the first time that Georgia had defeated all three rivals in the same season since 1982.

Stafford registered 175 yards passing and a TD pass to Sean Bailey during Georgia's 41–10 rout of the No. 10 Hawaii Warriors in the 2008 Sugar Bowl . His final stats were 13 starts completing 194-for-348 passes for 2,523 yards (194.1 per game) and 19 TDs as well as two rushing TDs.

Junior

Stafford was chosen to Athlon's preseason Heisman Favorites Others To Watch list. Georgia was ranked #1 in both the preseason coaches poll and the AP poll, marking the first time Georgia has ever been #1 in the preseason version of either poll; the team also entered the 2008 season with the longest active winning streak among the 66 BCS conference teams, having won its last 7 games of the 2007 season. In the final regular season game against Georgia Tech, Stafford completed 24 out of 39 attempts for 407 yards and 5 touchdowns, setting a personal record for touchdowns in a single game. Stafford finished the season with 3,459 passing yards, the second most in school history, and 25 touchdowns, the single-season record for passing touchdowns. He also rushed for a touchdown in 2008. After defeating Michigan State 24-12 and winning the MVP of the 2009 Capital One Bowl, Stafford finished his three years as at Georgia with a 3-0 record in bowl games and a 6-3 record in rivalry games (1-2 against Florida, 3-0 against Auburn, and 2-1 against Georgia Tech). Stafford chose to forgo his senior season and enter the 2009 NFL Draft. Taken out against georgia tech

Awards and honors

Named SEC Freshman of the Week twice during the 2006 season.
Named Rivals.com's National Freshman of the Week for his performance against Auburn on November 11, 2006.
Received the University of Georgia's 2006 Offensive Newcomer of the Year Award.
Named to the 2006 SEC Coaches' All-Freshman Team.
Named Offensive MVP of the 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl
Named All-America in 2008 by Pro Football Weekly .
Named to Second-team All-SEC in 2008.
MVP of the 2009 Capital One Bowl .

Statistics

Passing								Rushing
Year	Comp	Att	Yards	Pct.	TDs	Int	Rating	Att	Yds	Avg	TD
2006	135	256	1,749	52.7	7	13	109.0	47	191	4.1	3
2007	194	348	2,523	55.7	19	10	128.9	39	-18	-0.5	2
2008	235	382	3,459	61.5	25	10	153.9	55	40	0.7	1
Totals	564	986	7,731	57.2	51	33	133.4	141	213	1.5	6

Stafford's 25 touchdown passes in 2008 broke the previous Georgia record of 24, set by D. J. Shockley (2005) and Eric Zeier (1993, 1994).
Stafford's 3,459 yards passing in 2008 were 2nd most in Georgia history, surpassed only by Zeier's 3,525 yards in 1993.

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Minggu, 12 September 2010

matthew stafford