Max Wittek

Max Nolan Wittek (born July 31, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He played at USC from 2011 to 2013, and transferred to Hawaii, sitting out the 2014 season.

Max Wittek
Max Wittek
Max Wittek during the 2012 season with the USC Trojans
No. 6
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1993-07-31) July 31, 1993
San Ramon, California
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:236 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school:Mater Dei
(Santa Ana, California)
College:USC (2011–2013)
Hawaii (2014–2015)
Undrafted:2016
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

Born in Contra Costa County, California,[1] Wittek grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut[2] but later moved to Santa Ana, California, where he attended Mater Dei High School. His immediate predecessor as starting quarterback for Mater Dei was future USC teammate Matt Barkley.[3] As a senior, he completed 153 of 282 passes for 2,252 yards with 24 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He was ranked as the third best pro-style quarterback recruit in his class by Rivals.com.[4] He committed to USC in April 2010.[5]

College career

Wittek was redshirted as a freshman in 2011. As a redshirt freshman in 2012, Wittek won the backup job to Matt Barkley.[6] Wittek made his first career start on November 24, 2012, after Barkley suffered a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. Prior to that game, he had completed eight of nine passes for 95 yards with a touchdown.[7]

Scheduled to start his first USC game against rival and No. 1 ranked Notre Dame, Wittek made a stir by asserting his confidence in a Trojans victory: "I'm going to go out there, and I'm going to play within myself, within the system, and we're gonna win this ballgame."[8] Notre Dame defeated USC 22–13 to advance to the 2013 BCS National Championship Game. Wittek threw for 186 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.[9]

For the 2013 season, he and Cody Kessler competed for the starting job. He eventually lost the quarterback competition by the second week of the season.

In January 2014, Wittek decided to pursue a master's degree and compete for a QB position at another university.[10][11][12][13] In August, Wittek eventually announced his intention to transfer to Hawaii.[14]

In September 2015 for Hawaii, Wittek threw for 202 yards and three touchdown passes in a 28–20 win over Colorado, in the season opener for both teams.[15] Wittek started in 8 of Hawaii's first 9 games before injuring his right knee and later being diagnosed with chondromalacia, a degenerative knee condition. In those games he completed less than 50 percent of his passes and threw just 7 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. His season ended in November when he was scheduled for surgery on his right knee. Wittek reportedly was slowed by sore knees as well as a foot injury.[16] He finished the season with those statistics, including 1,542 yards passing as Hawaii completed the 2015 season with a 3–10 record.[17]

Professional career

On May 1, 2016, Wittek signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.[18] He was waived from their roster August 23, 2016.[19]

References
  1. "Max Nolan Wittek, Born 07/31/1993 in California - CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". californiabirthindex.org.
  2. Beachem, Greg (November 21, 2012). "College football – Barkley's injury opens door for Wittek". The Hour. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  3. Mark Whicker, Whicker: USC QB Wittek eager to get started, Orange County Register, November 20, 2012, accessed December 3, 2012.
  4. "Max Wittek". yahoo.com.
  5. "Santa Ana Mater Dei quarterback Max Wittek commits to USC". ESPN.com.
  6. Klein, Gary (August 29, 2012). "Max Wittek is tabbed as USC's No. 2 quarterback". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  7. "Kiffin: USC's Matt Barkley out for Notre Dame game". Sports Illustrated. November 18, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  8. Mauro, Pedro (November 20, 2012). "Max Wittek says USC will pull upset". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
  9. Wojciechowski, Gene (November 25, 2012). "Irish prevent more BCS chaos". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  10. Zach Shelton. "Texas Football: Why Adding USC Transfer Max Wittek Makes Sense for Texas". Bleacher Report.
  11. "Former USC QB Max Wittek Talking To Texas, Louisville And Ohio State". Inside USC with Scott Wolf.
  12. "USC Backup QB Plans To Transfer - ESPN Video - ESPN". Archived from the original on January 30, 2014.
  13. Zac Ellis. "Report: Former USC QB Max Wittek considering Texas, Ohio State, Louisville". SI.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  14. "Report: Former USC QB Max Wittek will join Hawaii later this month". Yahoo Sports. August 11, 2014.
  15. "Max Wittek leads Hawaii over Colorado 28–20". Yahoo Sports. September 4, 2015.
  16. "Injury ends college career of Hawaii QB Max Wittek, a USC transfer". November 20, 2015 – via LA Times.
  17. John Taylor (November 5, 2015). "Ex-USC QB Max Wittek benched as Hawaii's starter". NBC Sports.
  18. "Jaguars agree to terms with nine undrafted rookie free agents". Jaguars.com. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  19. Mike Kaye [@mike_e_kaye] (August 23, 2016). "#Jaguars have a made a roster move: QB Max Wittek waived, RB Cam Marshall signed" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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