Ty Detmer

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Ty Detmer
Ty Detmer of BYU wins the Heisman Trophy Sports Illustrated December 1990
Date of birth	October 30, 1967 (age 39)
Place of birth	San Marcos, Texas
Position(s)	Quarterback
College	Brigham Young
NFL Draft	1992 / Round 9/Pick 230
Career Highlights
Awards	1990 Heisman Trophy 1990 Maxwell Award
Stats
Statistics	CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1992-1995 1996-1997 1998 1999-2000 2001-2003 2004-2005	Green Bay Packers Philadelphia Eagles San Francisco 49ers Cleveland Browns Detroit Lions Atlanta Falcons

Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967 in San Marcos, Texas), is a former American football quarterback who starred at Brigham Young University. Detmer holds many records for his performance as BYU's quarterback and won the Heisman Trophy in 1990.

Contents 1 High school career 2 College career 3 Professional career 3.1 Green Bay Packers 3.2 Philadelphia Eagles 3.3 San Francisco 49ers 3.4 Cleveland Browns 3.5 Detroit Lions 3.6 Atlanta Falcons 4 Personal notes 5 Reference

[edit] High school career

Detmer attended Hobby Middle School in San Antonio, Texas Detmer attended Southwest High School in San Antonio, Texas. He earned letters in golf, football, basketball, baseball, and track. As a senior, he won All-America honors in football and was the Texas Player of the Year. He also won All-State honors in baseball and All-District in basketball. His father, Sonny, was his football coach.

[edit] College career

Ty Detmer is considered one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time. While at Brigham Young University, Detmer led a distinguished, record-setting career. He redshirted during the 1987 season, and shared quarterback duties with Sean Covey as a freshman in 1988. He started a game against New Mexico, and passed for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 65-0 BYU victory. He was named Most Valuable Player of the 1988 Freedom Bowl, leading BYU to a come-from-behind 20-17 victory over Colorado.

Detmer became a full-time starter in 1989. He emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, passing for 4,560 yards and 32 touchdowns. His passing rating of 175.6 led the NCAA, and he finished second to Houston's Andre Ware in total offense. He led BYU to a WAC Championship, their first since 1985. Detmer finished the season with a strong performance against Penn State in the 1989 Holiday Bowl, setting NCAA records for most passing yards (576) and most yards of total offense (594) in a single bowl game.

Detmer's junior season (1990) was his best at BYU, and ranks as one of the greatest seasons for a quarterback in college football history. Detmer passed for 5,188 yards and 41 touchdowns in 12 regular season games, and finished the year with 42 NCAA records (and tied for five others). The highpoint of the season was BYU's 28-21 upset victory over top-ranked Miami (FL); Detmer led the Cougars by passing for 406 yards and 3 touchdowns against the defending national champions. For his efforts, Detmer was awarded the Heisman Trophy, and received many other honors (including the Maxwell Award and the Davey O'Brien Award). He was named First Team All-America by the Associated Press, UPI, Football Writers, Walter Camp, Football News, Scripps Howard, and the Sporting News. Unfortunately for Detmer and BYU, the season ended in disasterous fashion: the Cougars lost 59-28 in their final regular season game (against Hawaii), then lost 65-14 to Texas A&M in the 1990 Holiday Bowl. Detmer was knocked out of the game against Texas A&M, suffering two separated shoulders that required off-season surgery.

The 1991 season started poorly for BYU. With inexperienced teammates, Detmer could not get BYU's offense going, and Cougars lost their first three games (road contests against Florida State, UCLA, and Penn State). After an 0-3 start, Detmer and BYU turned things around. The Cougars won eight straight games, and clinched their third consecutive WAC Championship with a spectacular 52-52 tie against San Diego State in their final regular season game. In that contest, BYU fell behind 45-17 before Detmer led a stunning comeback. He finished the game with 599 passing yards and 6 touchdowns, both career highs. In his final game as a Cougar, Detmer passed for 350 yards to lead BYU to a 13-13 tie against heavily-favored Iowa in the 1991 Holiday Bowl.

Detmer totaled 4,031 passing yards and 35 touchdowns in his senior season. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, but won the Davey O'Brien Award again and also earned the Sammy Baugh Trophy and the Today's Top VI Award. He was named First Team All-America by several organizations. His final career statistics were 1,530 pass attempts; 958 completions; 15,031 passing yards; 121 touchdown passes; 14,665 yards of total offense. All of these totals established NCAA records. In all, Detmer finished his college career with 59 NCAA records (and tied for three others). If statistics from bowl games are included, Detmer totaled 16,206 passing yards and 127 touchdown passes at BYU.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Green Bay Packers

Despite his success at BYU, Detmer was deemed too small to play quarterback in the NFL. The Green Bay Packers drafted him in the ninth round (230th pick overall) of the 1992 NFL Draft. Detmer spent four seasons with the Packers, but did not see much action while backing up Brett Favre.

[edit] Philadelphia Eagles

Detmer found more playing time after signing a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996. After Rodney Peete suffered a knee injury, Detmer became the team's starting quarterback. Detmer posted a 4-0 record in his first four starts. In his first start against the division rival New York Giants, Detmer completed 18 of 33 passes for 170 yards and no interceptions in the 19-10 victory. In his second start, he threw four touchdown passes (all to Irving Fryar) against the Miami Dolphins. The following week, he passed for a career-high 342 yards against the Carolina Panthers. The next week, he passed for 217 yards and a touchdown and added his first career rushing touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys. It was Philadelphia's first victory at Dallas since 1991, and earned Detmer the Miller Lite NFL Player of the Week award. A few weeks later, Detmer and the Eagles ended a three game losing streak as they shut out the Giants in the rematch 24-0. Detmer threw three touchdowns in the win. For the year, Detmer passed for 2,911 yards and 15 touchdowns; his 80.8 passer rating ranked fourth among NFC quarterbacks. The Eagles posted a 7-4 record with Detmer as the starter during the 1996 season. The following season, he shared quarterback duties with Rodney Peete and Bobby Hoying.

[edit] San Francisco 49ers

In 1998, he left Philadelphia and joined the San Francisco 49ers as a backup to Steve Young. He only spent one season in San Francisco; his lone start came against the Panthers. He passed for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 49ers' 25-23 victory.

[edit] Cleveland Browns

In 1999, Detmer was traded to the Cleveland Browns, who wanted him to mentor rookie Tim Couch. Detmer started the first two games of the 1999 season, then served as backup to Couch for the rest of the season. Detmer injured his right Achilles and was inactive the entire 2000 season.

[edit] Detroit Lions

Detmer spent three seasons (2001 to 2003) with the Detroit Lions. He started four games during the 2001 season. In his first start, he threw 7 interceptions against the Browns. He was eventually replaced as starter, but did start the final two games of the season. He set career highs for attempts (50) and completions (31) against the Chicago Bears, finishing with 303 passing yards. He closed out the season with 242 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Cowboys.

[edit] Atlanta Falcons

Detmer spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, but did not see any action as the third-string quarterback behind Michael Vick and Matt Schaub.

In 14 total seasons in the NFL, Detmer has played in 54 games (with 25 starts), totaling 6,351 yards passing with 34 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Detmer did not officially retire from football following the release and has said he would come back if a team needs him. He has also stated that coaching is in the back of his mind, and his alma mater, BYU, has already reportedly offered him a position.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal notes

Detmer's younger brother, Koy Detmer, plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. ^[1] Ty Detmer and his wife Kim have four daughters: Kaili (12), Aubri (9), Mayci (7), and Rylli (5). Detmer graduated from BYU with a degree in recreation administration and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during his junior year there. . Detmer was the all-time Texas high school passing leader for eleven years.

[edit] Reference

1. ^ Brothers in Pro Football

Preceded by Andre Ware	Heisman Trophy Winner 1990	Succeeded by Desmond Howard
Preceded by Rodney Peete	Philadelphia Eagles Starting Quarterbacks 1996	Succeeded by Bobby Hoying
Preceded by Vinny Testaverde	Cleveland Browns Starting Quarterbacks 1999	Succeeded by Tim Couch