AARON RODGERS

'Aaron Charles Rodgers' (born December 2, 1983 in Chico, California, U.S.) is an American football quarterback. He was drafted in the first round (24th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers and is earmarked to be Brett Favre's eventual successor.

Contents

Early years

College career

Career statistics

Awards and honors

Professional career

External links

Early years

Rodgers is from Chico in Butte County, California. He attended Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, California, and garnered 4,419 passing yards and started for two years at quarterback. He set single-game records of 6 touchdowns and 440 all-purpose yards and Rodgers also set a single season record by having 2,466 total yards.
Rodgers garnered little interest from Division I programs out of Pleasant Valley with only one offer, as a walk-on, from the University of Illinois. Rodgers declined the invitation to attend Butte College for an opportunity to transfer to a Division I university after his sophomore year. Rodgers was discovered by California football head coach Jeff Tedford in 2003 as a freshman, while recruiting Garrett Cross.

College career

As a junior college transfer with three years of eligibility, Rodgers was named the starting quarterback for California in the fifth game of the 2003 season, ironically, against the only team that offered him a division I opportunity out of high school, Illinois. He helped lead the Golden Bears to an 8-6 record, including an upset win over then-No. 3 ranked University of Southern California and an Insight Bowl victory against the Virginia Tech Hokies.
As a junior, Rodgers led California to the No. 4 ranking in the country, earning a spot in the Holiday Bowl. After the season, Rodgers entered the 2005 NFL Draft.

Career statistics

'Passing'^[1]
Year Att Com Int Pct. Yds TD Long Rtg
2003 349 215 5 61.6 2903 19 79 146.58
2004 316 209 8 66.1 2566 24 80 154.35
Totals 665 424 13 63.8 5469 43 80 150.27
'Rushing'
Year Att Yds Avg TD Long
2003 86 210 2.4 5 24
2004 74 126 1.7 3 26
Totals 160 336 2.10 8 26

Awards and honors

★ Cal's Co-Offensive MVP (2004)

★ First-team All-Pac-10 (2004)

★ Honorable mention All-American (2004)

★ Second-team Academic All-Pac-10 (2004)

Professional career

Rodgers was expected to be selected early in the 2005 NFL Draft and was thought of as the potential number one pick overall. His slip to the 24th choice became one of the biggest stories of the draft, but still he was the second quarterback taken in the draft. Rodgers posted impressive numbers as a junior with Cal throwing for 2,320 yards with a 67.5 completion rating. He tied an NCAA record when he completed 23 consecutive passes against the eventual national champions, USC. He threw for 23 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions in his last college season, impressing many NFL scouts. Many believe his slip to #24 was due to the fact that he is considered short for a quarterback at 6'2" tall, as well as the so-far unsuccessful NFL careers of most of his college coach Jeff Tedford's previous quarterbacks. Alternatively, Rodgers' relatively low draft position may have been due to many of the teams drafting between the second and 23rd positions having greater positional needs than quarterback. Rodgers is one of six quarterbacks coached by Tedford to be drafted in the first round, including Akili Smith, Trent Dilfer, Joey Harrington, and Kyle Boller. Even though those 5 players were all selected in the 1st round, you could say all of them failed to play up to expectations.
In August 2005, Rodgers, agreed to a reported five-year, $7.7 million deal that included $5.4 million in guaranteed money and could pay him as much as $24.5 million if all the incentives and escalators are met.
Rodgers spent a disappointing 4-12 2005 season as the Packers #2 quarterback behind Brett Favre. Rodgers had little playing time during the year and saw time in a win vs. New Orleans Saints and in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
When Favre decided to continue his career into the 2006 season, Rodgers was forced to continue in his role as the second quarterback on the depth chart.
On November 19, 2006, Rodgers broke his left foot against the New England Patriots in a 35-0 defeat at home while filling in for an injured Brett Favre. Rodgers missed the remainder of the 2006 season. In a locker room interview, Rodgers said he expected to make a full recovery in time for the start of the 2007 season.
Weeks after an emotional interview with NBC's Andrea Kramer following the team's season-ending victory at Chicago, Favre announced he is going to play in the 2007 season, again postponing Rodgers' hopes of becoming the Green Bay Packers' starting quarterback.
Prior to the 2007 season, rumours surfaced about a potential trade involving Aaron Rodgers in which he would be traded to the Oakland Raiders for WR Randy Moss. [1] However, Randy Moss was traded to the New England Patriots during the second day of the 2007 NFL Draft, and Rodgers stayed in Green Bay. The Oakland Raiders received a 4th-round draft choice in the trade for Moss.
In 2007, Rodgers will split time with Brett Favre as the starting quarterback.

External links

★ NFL.com - Aaron Rodgers

★ Green Bay Packers official site - Aaron Rodgers