Grothe's Season Ends, but Not His Dream

TAMPA, Fla. -- Just before noon Sunday, Matt Grothe, along with his parents, his two younger brothers, his girlfriend and his uncle, sat inside an office at the University Diagnostic Institute on the University of South Florida campus.

Grothe, USF's star quarterback, had undergone an MRI on his left knee about an hour earlier, but deep down he already knew the results.

Grothe knew that he had played his final game for USF.

"It's as expected," Dr. David Leffers said. "He has a torn ACL."

A senior, Grothe had just been told his USF career was over. He could not play at Florida State Saturday, he could not pad his Big East total offense record and his quest to win the school's first Big East title was over.

"OK," Grothe responded. "How long do we have to wait for the surgery?"

Monday night Grothe was supposed to be practicing for the biggest game in the program's 13-year history: a visit to FSU.

Instead, he watched from the sideline in street clothes.

"It's nice to have Matt out here because that's our leader," USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales said. "That's the guy that leads and he's still leading and getting the guys motivated and going and just staying strong with what he sees and believes."

Grothe's USF career is over, but he's already planning on his comeback. His dream is still alive of playing professionally a year from now.

Before next season got here, Grothe had big plans for this season. He planned on leading USF to victories against Florida State and Miami and winning that coveted Big East championship.

However, that all changed late in the second quarter of a 59-0 rout of Charleston Southern Saturday night.
With three minutes remaining in the first half there were only a handful more plays and then USF would trot into the locker room with a 28- or 35-point lead.

Before the game, USF's coaches already had determined that Grothe and some other key starters wouldn't play in the second half, so they could rest for Saturday's tilt at FSU, while allowing some younger players to get some game experience.

That was the plan, anyway.

On second-and-2 from USF's 22, Grothe, on a designed run, ran to his left and dipped to the outside before he was tripped up from behind. Then as he planted his left leg he was tackled by Charleston Southern's Antwain Harvey.

His left knee immediately buckled. He had torn his ACL.

"The way he was yelling," USF wide receiver Carlton Mitchell said, "it tore me apart."

The final play of Grothe's spectacular USF career was a 9-yard gain with 2:54 left in the half.

This had to be a sick joke. USF's official game sponsor was "Howl-O-Scream" and the Bulls' biggest nightmare came true.

A week after Grothe became the Big East's all-time leader in total offense, his career ended in the most meaningless game in program history: a game against a team from the FCS, formerly known as Division I-AA, that does not even count toward USF becoming bowl eligible.

"You play every play like it's your last and it could be," said Matt Grothe Sr., Matt's father, as he fought back tears. "That's the way he's played his whole career."

Grothe's USF career might not be over if he would have come out of the Charleston Southern game after suffering an AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder, the same injury that has sidelined Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford of Oklahoma.

He injured his shoulder on the series before he tore his ACL, but in typical Grothe fashion, decided to tough it out and stay in the game.

"I jumped over somebody and got hit underneath the shoulder," Grothe said. "I can't throw the ball. I think I threw it one time [in the game] after the injury, but there was so much adrenaline I couldn't feel [the injury]."

Grothe said he didn't tell his teammates or coaches about the shoulder injury until after the game.

"We were up 21-0 and I was going to get on the head phones and tell [Canales in the press box] that I don't want to go back in because my shoulder hurts," Grothe said. "But then our defense made a big play [forcing a punt], and I was like, 'No, I'll go back in for one more series.'

"The rest was history."

Under Grothe, the Bulls made history and reached unprecedented heights. The new program, which just began in 1997, was ranked No. 2 in the nation in 2007 and Grothe's "Grohawk" haircut was the rage all through out Tampa. Youngsters all over the city, much to their parent's dismay, wanted to get a "Grohawk" Mohawk to be like Matt.

He was not only the face of USF's program, but also the Big East.

"If we were doing a Mount Rushmore for the league," Big East director of communications Chuck Sullivan said. "Matt would be on it."

At USF's annual Fan Appreciation Day, Grothe's autograph line was always the longest. Yet he signed, signed and signed until everyone was accommodated. At this year's event in August he went through three Sharpies. For almost two hours, he signed 377 items, from bull skulls to body parts to baby clothes.

He held 5-month-old Colton Blakenfeld and smiled for one of the countless cameras pointed his way.

"I didn't ask him to kiss the baby," said Colton's father, Jay. "But if I did, he probably would have."

Justin Cooper of St. Petersburg was the final person in line to get Grothe's autograph that day. Cooper waited in line for more than an hour.

"My brother went to USF and I became a fan by watching them on television," Cooper said. "I like the way Grothe plays. He's cool. Tell him it was worth the wait."

Grothe was more than just a football player to USF fans.

"Matt's a franchise guy, we all know that," USF coach Jim Leavitt said. "What he's [done] in college football is extraordinary. He's one of the great names out there. I feel real bad for him."

After Saturday night's game, Canales got emotional talking to the offense about losing Grothe.

"He would give everything he could to be on that field right now and don't you dare take a rep off or a snap off all through practice this week," Canales said. "When you step on the field, you better play your butts off for No. 8, because that's our leader. I think people understand the magnitude of what's going on."

In the second game of his freshman year, Grothe won the starting job. That season he led USF to six come-from-behind victories and was named the Big East's rookie of the year. He led the Bulls to three consecutive bowl games and the first bowl victory in school history.

"The best thing about Matt is he has the ability to make the big play at the needed time," said former USF offensive coordinator Rod Smith, now quarterbacks coach at Michigan. "He just has the knack about him – that's what winners have. It's hard to explain.

"He makes a play whenever you need one or we were in a big-time situation. He always came through in the clutch."

Grothe's gunslinger approach -- it's no coincidence his favorite player is Brett Favre -- is what endeared him to USF fans.

"Matt, I have never followed and believed in a USF player as much as I have followed and believed in you," wrote Hector Jimenez, a 1996 USF graduate who lives in Georgia, on The Tampa Tribune's Web site, TBO.com. "Thanks for the four bowls, beating Auburn, the No. 2 and No. 10 national rankings.

"Thanks for making me believe that as long as the game was within reach and you were in the game, USF had a chance to win. Thanks for making USF relevant!"

Since he began playing football at the age of 7, Grothe was a born leader. His youth coach, Kenny Strong, remembers that 1993 season when Grothe led the Lakeland Junior Jaguars to an undefeated season.

Although the league allowed a coach to stand on the field to help the players out, Strong always remained on the sideline.

"The officials would say, 'Coach you can be on the field,' but I would just walk off the field," Strong said. "I'd tell them, 'I've got a kid out there that knows how to run the offense.'

"Matt was a unique character, a coach on the field. I had such confidence in him."

Grothe's leadership abilities showed when he arrived at USF. In his first game as a redshirt freshman, starter Pat Julmiste was injured in the second quarter.

Grothe jogged into the huddle and immediately took command.

"As a freshman, it's hard to tell a guy who's been here five years what to do," said Nick Capogna, a senior center during Grothe's freshman season in 2006. "I heard him getting on me and I'm like, 'Who the hell is this kid?' He's definitely become a leader at such a young age."

Grothe also wasn't shy about showing his emotions or speaking his mind.

In 2008, he blasted USF's fans for screaming derogatory slurs at the University of Kansas cheerleaders before a home game. He also said he thought college football players should be compensated for the amount of money each school makes from selling replica jerseys with a players name on it.

Before playing rival Central Florida last season, UCF fans got his cell phone number and bombarded his cell with hundreds of voice and text messages. His father even received a death threat before the game.

After throwing a third quarter touchdown pass, Grothe ran through the end zone, putting his right hand to his ear, like he was receiving a phone call. Grothe, who has remained upbeat since the injury, said watching USF will be "awkward -- not uncomfortable, but awkward."

"It's just a new chapter in my life," Grothe said. "I told them [his teammates] they can't call me Matt or Grothe any more. From now on, it's Coach Grothe."

Grothe finished his USF career with 10,875 total yards – 8,669 passing with 52 touchdowns and 2,206 rushing with 23 touchdowns in 42 career games.

"The biggest thing was I had was fun while I was playing here," he said. "Hopefully it can continue with an NFL team, CFL [Canadian Football League], UFL [United Football League] or whatever I can do."

Grothe is scheduled to graduate in December with a criminology degree. He will remain a team captain and travel to all the games and go to midfield for the pre-game coin toss, he said.

"Matthew's taking it well," Grothe Sr. said. "He's still all about USF and anything he can do to help.

"This is a sport where people hit and people run. Unfortunately this happened, because fans and players thought this would be a real good season and it still can be.

"That's still Matt's team."

Matt's team continues practicing for their biggest game ever as Grothe can only watch on.

"Matt proved some people wrong," his father said. "And his dream isn't over. He has goals he still has in football and in life, and if I know Matt, he'll reach them."