Georgia: New Dogs QBs connecting

ATHENS, Ga. — As early enrollees at Georgia, quarterbacks Zach Mettenberger and Aaron Murray are getting a head start on the playbook.

They’re learning even more about each other as roommates.

“We definitely have our moments of tension where we’re at each other’s throats,” Mettenberger said. “He gets mad at me all the time because I won’t clean the kitchen.”

Said Murray: “I hate walking in and there are dishes and trash everywhere. I am really a neat freak.”

For the second time in Mark Richt’s nine recruiting classes, the Bulldogs have signed two quarterbacks who enrolled early. Georgia had the same situation in 2004 with Blake Barnes and A.J. Bryant, but Bryant was moved to receiver a couple of months later in spring practice.

Mettenberger and Murray also room with offensive guard Dallas Lee, Georgia’s other early enrollee.

“I had Peter Tom Willis and Chip Ferguson in the same class, and they both played well and had their moments in the sun,” Richt said, referencing his days as a Florida State assistant. “Casey Weldon and Brad Johnson came in the same class and were best men in each other’s wedding. Both of them were drafted in the same year, and Casey was like six or seven years in the NFL, and Brad is still hanging on after about 17 or 18 years in the NFL.

“I’m hoping that these young men build that same kind of relationship. You always try to promote fierce competition without feeling like you’ve got to hate the guy you’re competing against.”

Even before living in close quarters the past few weeks and having three classes together, Mettenberger and Murray weren’t strangers when they arrived last month.

Mettenberger committed last Feb. 3, while Murray wasn’t too far behind with an April 24 pledge. They attended a Georgia camp together in June and met up a month later in California at the Elite 11 quarterback camp.

“I know he was looking at me and seeing what my strengths and weaknesses were,” Mettenberger said, “and I was sizing him up and seeing what his strengths and weaknesses were. Now we’re just trying to learn from each other and get better.”

It was Murray who decided first to enroll early, which Mettenberger admitted led him to do the same.

Murray became one of the hottest prospects nationally after his junior season at Tampa’s Plant High, when he threw for 4,013 yards with 51 touchdowns and seven interceptions. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder also rushed for 932 yards and nine scores, but his senior season was sidetracked in mid-October by a broken fibula and dislocated ankle.

He returned in time for the state semifinals and led Plant to the state title, but his desire to rush back for the playoffs is hampering him somewhat in offseason drills.

The 6-foot-5, 238-pound Mettenberger was as big as some of his linemen at Oconee County in Watkinsville, Ga. He completed 55 percent of his passes last season for 2,106 yards, with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions.

When Georgia starts spring practice March 17, Mettenberger and Murray are expected to share third-team snaps behind Joe Cox and Logan Gray.

“I think we’re building a great relationship, and I think it will be a fun four years working with him,” Murray said. “All we can do now is just work hard. I think both of us have the mindset now that we’re going to do whatever it takes to be the quarterback for the University of Georgia. No one can tell what the future will bring.”

Until then, it’s more of learning the offense and learning to live together.

“I think he’s taken the trash out once,” Murray said.