Matt McGloin

McGloin joined the Nittany Lions football team in 2009 as a walk-on. He was a backup in 2009, playing against Syracuse, Eastern Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State where he had a combined zero completions on two attempts. In the Blue-White game, McGloin was a combined 9-of-13 for 111 yards and threw two touchdowns, one for each team. After playing behind Daryll Clark and Kevin Newsome in 2009, McGloin ended up third on the depth chart in early 2010 behind Rob Bolden, a true freshman from Detroit.

McGloin was in a three-quarterback competition for the starting job in 2010 with Newsome and Bolden. Bolden won the starting job for the season-opener against Youngstown State, Newsome played in the fourth quarter and scored a touchdown, and McGloin played one play, where he handed off to third-string tailback Curtis Dukes. On October 23, 2010, McGloin played against Minnesota when Kevin Newsome was sidelined with stomach flu and Bolden left the game with a concussion. McGloin threw two touchdowns in Penn State's first Big Ten victory after losses to Illinois and Iowa.[1]

On October 30, McGloin made his first start at quarterback and threw for 250 yards and a touchdown in a 41–31 win over Michigan. Bolden started the next week against Northwestern, but was pulled from the game by coach Joe Paterno after he was sacked twice and lost a fumble. McGloin rallied the Nittany Lions from a 21-point deficit to a 35–21 victory with four touchdown passes, a mark he matched twice his senior year but never surpassed. The victory was also the 400th of Paterno's career.[2]

On November 10, Paterno officially named McGloin the team's starter.[3] On November 13, McGloin scored the first passing touchdowns in Ohio Stadium by a Penn State quarterback since 1963 and put them up 14–3 over the Buckeyes at halftime. He passed for 300+ yards and two touchdowns in both of the final regular-season games against Indiana and Michigan St, but threw five interceptions in a loss to Florida in the 2011 Outback Bowl, including one returned 80 yards for a touchdown on a potential game-winning drive late in the game's last minute. He finished the season 118-of-215, for 1,548 yards, 14 touchdowns, and nine interceptions for a passer rating of 128.5. Despite playing in only 7 of the team's 12 games, he ranked tenth in the conference in completions, attempts, yards, touchdowns, and rating, but tied for 4th in interceptions.

McGloin split time at quarterback with Rob Bolden much of the 2011 season. He went 14–29 in the blue and white game and led Penn State to a game-winning drive over in-state rival Temple in week 3. McGloin saw increasing playing time through the season, both starting and playing his first complete game in a Week 8 victory over Northwestern.[4] Despite a poor 9-of-24 for 98 yard performance the next week, McGloin's Nittany Lions defeated Illinois 10–7 for coach Joe Paterno's record-breaking 409th career win,[5] and the 8–1 team rose to 12th in the AP Poll on the following bye week. The rest of the season was marred by the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, the team lost three of their last four games, and McGloin did not play in the team's TicketCity Bowl loss to Houston after suffering a concussion during a locker room altercation with receiver Curtis Drake.[6]

Though McGloin took only 2/3 of the team's snaps that season, he led the team and finished ninth in the Big Ten with 125 completions, 231 attempts, a 54.1% completion percentage, 1,571 passing yards, and an efficiency of 118.3. McGloin also had eight touchdown passes (10th in the Big Ten) against only 5 interceptions.

The arrival of new head coach Bill O'Brien paid huge dividends for McGloin. Though one of three quarterbacks considered for the starting role until just before opening day,[7] McGloin started all 12 games and had a passer efficiency rating over 100 in all of them. In Week 4 against Eastern Michigan, McGloin went 14-of-17 for 220 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions, for the highest completion percentage (82.4%) and passer efficiency (249.3) by a Penn State quarterback since 2000. On November 17, 2012, in the course of a 395 yard, four-touchdown effort over Illinois, he surpassed Daryll Clark's career record for touchdown passes (45) in Penn State history,[8] Clark's single-season record of 3,003 passing yards,[9] and Anthony Morelli's single-season record of 234 completions.[10]

McGloin finished the season leading the Big Ten with a school-record 270 completions, 446 attempts, 3,271 yards and 24 touchdowns.[11] He earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors and was the 2012 Burlsworth Trophy winner, given by the Rotary Club of Springdale, Arkansas to the most outstanding college football player who began his career as a walk-on.[12]

McGloin ended his career at Penn State with a school-record 46 touchdowns, and ranked second in school history to Zack Mills with 513-of-894 for 6,390 yards.[14] His career efficiency of 130.2 is the highest among players with at least 750 pass attempts. McGloin was honored on the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by Rep. Marty Flynn in 2013.[15] Flynn cited McGloin's "daily demonstration of grit and tenacity."[15] The Worthington Scranton campus of Penn State University named its baseball field after McGloin.[16]

McGloin was not drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft, but he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Oakland Raiders after a visit on May 15, 2013.[18]

McGloin made the team and began the season as the third-string quarterback on the depth chart, behind starter Terrelle Pryor and backup Matt Flynn.[19] After Flynn's disappointing Week 4 showing (starting for an injured Pryor) against the Washington Redskins, McGloin was promoted past Flynn to be Pryor's backup.[20][21] McGloin made his first NFL appearance during the fourth quarter of the November 3, 2013 game between the Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles.[22] He debuted as the Raiders' starting quarterback on November 17, 2013; along with Buffalo Bills quarterback Jeff Tuel, he was one of two undrafted rookie quarterbacks to start a game in the 2013 season, a historically rare occurrence. McGloin threw for three touchdowns and led the Raiders to a 28-23 victory over the Houston Texans. The next week, McGloin threw a go-ahead touchdown to Marcel Reece late in the fourth quarter of a 23-19 loss to the Tennessee Titans. In a Thanksgiving contest against the Dallas Cowboys, McGloin earned praise for his play in the loss and an honorable mention for Phil Simms's "All-Iron Award" for the most valuable player. Despite consistent play from McGloin, the Raiders lost their next four games, and Pryor retook the starting role for the final game of the season. McGloin's 259.0 passing yards per game is second only to Jake Delhomme in NFL history for an undrafted rookie.

McGloin in 2014

In 2014, McGloin began the season behind rookie quarterback Derek Carr and backup Matt Schaub. He played in just one game, replacing an injured Carr midway through third quarter of a 38-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins during Week 4. He threw a touchdown and an interception in the loss.[23]

McGloin in 2015

In 2015, McGloin was promoted to second-string backup after Schaub was released during the offseason. He played just over two quarters for an injured Carr on opening day, throwing two fourth-quarter touchdowns to Reece in the 33-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and appeared in just one other game that season.

McGloin appeared only briefly in two games early in the 2016 season behind a greatly improved Carr. However, in Week 16, Carr suffered a broken right fibula early in the fourth quarter on his only sack against the Indianapolis Colts, with an expected recovery time of 6–8 weeks.[24] On January 1, 2017, McGloin made his first start since 2013, completing six of 11 passes for 21 yards before suffering a shoulder injury late in the second quarter and being replaced by rookie Connor Cook in a 24-6 road loss to the Denver Broncos, which cost the Raiders the AFC West championship and a first-round bye.[25][26] On January 4, Cook was named the starter for the AFC Wildcard Game against the Houston Texans.[27] McGloin was limited in practice due to his injury but was still active as Cook's backup for the playoff game.[28][29][30] McGloin did not see any action in the playoff game as the Raiders lost to the Texans on the road by a score of 27–14.[31]

On April 10, 2017, McGloin signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.[32] On September 1, 2017, he was released.[33]

On November 3, 2017, McGloin and T. J. Yates were both signed by the Houston Texans after a season-ending knee injury to starter Deshaun Watson. Head coach Bill O'Brien said that Yates would be the backup to Tom Savage for the November 5 game against the Indianapolis Colts, making McGloin the third-string quarterback.[34][35] He was released on November 7, 2017, after the team signed Josh Johnson.[36]

On March 30, 2018, McGloin was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs.[37] He was released on September 2, 2018.[38]

McGloin declined to sign with the Alliance of American Football, which began play in February 2019 before it ceased operations in April 2019.[39]

On October 15, 2019, McGloin was allocated to the New York Guardians of the XFL as part of the league's 2020 XFL Draft.[40] He signed a contract with the team on November 4, 2019.

Despite losing his starting position to Luis Perez midway through the league's inaugural season due to a rib injury and a feud with coaching staff,[41] McGloin spoke positively of his experience in the league after it was forced to suspend operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that "It was great while it lasted... I really enjoyed the opportunity they gave me to go out and be a professional player again and to be 'the guy' again, if only for a short time."[42] McGloin had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.[43]