Eric Zeier deserves to be on Georgia Football’s Mount Rushmore for quarterbacks
By Eric Taylor
Should Eric Zeier go on Georgia football’s quarterback Mount Rushmore? We think he belongs amongst the best quarterbacks to ever wear the red and black.
Georgia football fans all know Matthew Stafford, Aaron Murray, D.J. Shockley, and David Greene as some of the Bulldogs best quarterbacks. However, there is one signal caller that seems to get left out and he shouldn’t.
Eric Zeier was a two-time Heisman candidate in 1993 and 1994. He once held 67 of Georgia’s passing records and 18 SEC passing records. However, he seems to have been forgotten behind the hype of some of the more recent quarterbacks.
Zeier set these records while at Georgia and held onto them for a long time.
Here’s a list of records he had or still holds:
- Most Pass Attempts – Game: 65 vs Florida, 1993
- Most Pass Attempts – Season 433, 1994 (Broken by David Greene)
- Most Pass Attempts – Career 1402, 1991-94 (Broken by David Greene & Aaron Murray)
- Most Pass Completions – Game: 36 vs Florida, 1993; also vs Kentucky, 1994 (Broken by Cory Phillips)
- Consecutive Completions To Start A Game – 15 vs. Georgia Tech, 1993 (Tied by Quincy Carter)
- Most Pass Completions – Season – 269, 1993
- Most Pass Completions – Career – 838, 1991-94 (Broken by Aaron Murray)
- Most Passing Yards – Game – 544 vs Southern Miss, 1993 (SEC Record)
- Most Passing Yards – Season – 3525, 1993 (Broken by Aaron Murray)
- Most Passing Yards – Career – 11153, 1991-94 (SEC Record) (Broken by David Greene & Aaron Murray)
- Best Completion Percentage – Season – 63.29%, 1993 (Broken by Mike Bobo, Aaron Murray, & Hutson Mason)
- Best Completion Percentage – Career (Min. 1400 att.): 59.77%, 1991-94 (Broken by Aaron Murray)
- Most Touchdown Passes – Season: 24, 1993, 1994 (Broken by Matthew Stafford & Aaron Murray, Tied by Jake Fromm)
- Most Touchdown Passes – Career: 67, 1991-94 (Broken by David Greene & Aaron Murray)
- Consecutive Attempts Without An Interception: 176, 1993-94 (Broken by David Greene)
- Lowest Interception Percentage -Season: (Min. 200 att.) 1.39%, 1991 (4 in 286 att) (Broken by David Greene & Greyson Lambert)
- Lowest Interception Percentage – Career (Min. 600 attempts): 2.64% (37 in 1402 att), 1991-94 (Broken by David Greene)
- Most Yards Passing By A Sophomore: 2248, 1992 (Broken by Quincy Carter, David Greene, Matthew Stafford, & Aaron Murray)
- Most Yards Passing By A Junior: 3525, 1993 (Broken by Aaron Murray)
- Most Yards Passing By A Senior: 3396, 1994
- Most Offensive Plays – Game: 73 vs Florida, 1993
- Most Offensive Plays – Season: 484, 1993 (Broken by David Greene & Aaron Murray)
- Most Offensive Plays – Career: 1560, 1991-94 (Broken by Aaron Murray)
- Average Gain Per Play – Game (Minimum 10 Plays): 16.40 vs. NE Louisiana, 1994 (8×10 for 164 [p])
- Total Offense – Game: 527 vs. Southern Miss, 1993 (544 passing, -17 rushing)
- Total Offense – Season: 3,482, 1993 (Broken by Matthew Stafford & Aaron Murray)
- Total Offense – Career: 10,841, 1991-94 (SEC Record) (Broken by David Greene & Aaron Murray)
- TD Responsibility – Career: 71, 1991-94 (Broken by David Greene & Aaron Murray)
Team accomplishments seem to overshadow what Zeier was able to do in his four years leading Georgia.
He didn’t win an SEC Championship like David Greene, DJ Shockley, or Jake Fromm. Of course, the SEC Championship game didn’t exist until 1992.
Georgia did tie for the SEC East title that inaugural year, but lost to Florida and missed playing in the first SEC Championship. However, Zeier did lead Georgia to a New Year’s six bowl win, beating Ohio State, and Kirk Herbstreit, in the Citrus Bowl.
He didn’t have the best team backing him up either. Only once did he have a defense ranked in the top 5 in points against and that was when the defense ranked 3rd in 1992.
Only one other time in his career was the defense in the top 30. For his career, his defenses ranked 30th, 3rd, 66th, and 67th in points given up. A quarterback can only do so much, and Zeier’s offenses averaged nearly 30 points a game for his entire career.
By comparison, Aaron Murray had defenses that ranked 36th, 23rd, 18th, and 80th. David Greene had defenses that ranked 17th, 4th, 3rd, and 9th. Stafford had defenses that ranked 21st, 18th, and 59th. Its a lot easier for a QB to get wins when their defense isn’t giving up points.
Zeier’s receiving cast consisted of Andre Hastings, Brice Hunter, Arthur Marshall, Damon Evans, Brian Bohannon, Hason Graham, Jeff Thomas, Jerry Jerman, Juan Daniels, and Hines Ward.
Ward was just a freshman when Zeier was a senior and not quite the weapon many of us remember leaving the program in 1997.
No one is going to mistake Zeier’s cast of receivers for AJ Green, Mohamed Massaquoi, Terrence Edwards, Malcolm Mitchell, Tavarres King, Reggie Brown, Fred Gibson, Riley Ridley, Mecole Hardman, or Terry Godwin. The talent in which Zeier played with was lacking. He had talented running backs, but his wideouts were average, at best.
Zeier did more with less than any quarterback that has come after him.
He still holds the record at Georgia for most passing yards in a single game slinging it for 544 yards. Zeier actually holds the top three spots in that category. He is second only to Greene in career interception percentage (2.64% 37 in 1,402). He is also third, behind only Greene and Murray, in career passing yardage with 11,153 yards.
Zeier was the first SEC quarterback ever to go over 11,000 yards passing. The fact that he did that without any help from an elite receiver is flat out remarkable.
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Do I think that he belongs on Georgia’s Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks? Absolutely. He is top three in most QB categories and did it with less talent around him than the others. There is not a doubt in my mind that Zeier deserves to be on it. He truly was a ‘Damn Good Dawg.’