LSU football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

Zach Mettenberger‘s college football career didn’t get off to the best start, specifically before he arrived at LSU. He originally committed to Georgia but redshirted the 2009 season before getting kicked off the team. He attended Butler Community College for a year and won a JUCO National Championship before transferring to LSU in 2011. While he didn’t play much that season, he became the starter for the 2012 campaign.

Mettenberger showed he had the goods that season as he went 10-3 with the Tigers and threw for 2,609 yards, 12 scores and seven picks. The following season, he led the team to a 9-3 regular-season record while upping his completion rate 6.1 percent and throwing for 3,082 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions, becoming the first LSU quarterback to throw for 2,500 yards in back-to-back seasons.

After tearing his ACL in the Tigers’ regular-season finale, though, the big-armed quarterback recovered remarkably quickly and had some thinking he could be a sleeper developmental quarterback. The Tennessee Titans took that gamble in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.  However, he never panned out, playing in only 18 games with 13 starts and throwing 15 touchdowns and as many interceptions.

Frankly, while Mettenberger had a big arm, it’s obvious that he benefitted from those around him at LSU, namely Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and Jeremy Hill. Never having that kind of help in the NFL, he simply wasn’t the same player.