Kyle Wright

Kyle Wright (born October 18, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and was also a member of the San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at the University of Miami.

For the baseball player, see Kyle Wright (baseball).
Kyle Wright
Wright (left) carries the ball against Virginia Tech
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1984-10-18) October 18, 1984
Danville, California
Height:6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school:Monte Vista
(Danville, California)
College:Miami (FL)
Undrafted:2008
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
  • Honorable mention All-ACC (2005)
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

Wright began his high school career as starting quarterback on the Vintage High School JV team, in Napa, California. Following his freshman year, he transferred to Monte Vista High in Danville, becoming the second-string quarterback for his first year and the starter his remaining 2 years. Wright was widely regarded as the nation's top high school quarterback for the 2002-2003 season, during which he was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year and SuperPrep National Player of the Year, as well as being ranked the fifth best overall player in the nation by both Scout recruiting magazine[1] He participated in the 2003 U.S. Army All-American Bowl game.

Additionally, Wright was ranked the best pro-style quarterback in the class of 2003 by rivals.com while his cross-town rival, San Ramon Valley High School quarterback Sam Keller, future quarterback of ASU and Nebraska, was ranked ninth.[2]

Ultimately, he chose Miami over such other schools as Florida State, Southern California, and Tennessee.

College career

Wright graduated from high school a semester early and enrolled at the University of Miami for the 2003 spring semester amidst great expectation that he would be the next great quarterback at “Quarterback U.” and continue in the lineage of Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson, Gino Torretta, Ryan Clement and Ken Dorsey. Wright was redshirted for the 2003 season and spent the following season as Brock Berlin's backup before an ankle injury and an allergic reaction to a bee sting effectively ended his season after only a few games. With Berlin having graduated, Miami's starting quarterback job was open heading into the 2005 season. During spring practice, Wright performed well and earned the starting position over redshirt freshman Kirby Freeman.

2005 season

Wright's first season as a starter was a bit uneven. A highlight came on November 12, 2005, when Wright tied a school-record by tossing 5 touchdown passes in a 47-17 blowout victory against Wake Forest.

However, Wright struggled badly against some of the better teams on Miami's schedule (12 of his 18 touchdown passes came against teams with a losing record: Duke, Temple, and Wake Forest), and led the team to a 3-loss season and a 40-3 blowout loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl, Miami's worst bowl defeat ever. With Wright at quarterback, the Hurricanes also finished with their lowest ranking in the polls in the new millennium and suffered a loss to their archrival, Florida State, for the first time since 1999.

However, Wright still managed to have a promising and productive season, as he led the ACC in touchdown passes (18), was second in pass efficiency to Virginia Tech's Marcus Vick, and was the only Honorable Mention All-ACC selection at quarterback.

2006 season

Expectations were big for Wright heading into the 2006 season. Wright was selected as the quarterback on the Preseason All-ACC team,[3] and finished second to Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson in balloting for the ACC Preseason Player of the Year.[4] Wright was also named to the Maxwell Award watchlist, and was projected as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.

Wright failed to meet the big preseason expectations for him, his struggles mirroring those of the team in general, which fell out of national championship contention by the third game of the season. In 9 games, Wright threw for just 1,655 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions, and completed 60.8% of his passes.

As he had been during much of the season, Wright was booed continuously during Miami's 17-10 homecoming loss to Virginia Tech, a game in which he threw two critical interceptions and played what was viewed as the worst game of his career.[5] As Wright left the field, angry Miami fans berated him. Wright's father, who was in the area, then engaged in a profanity laced tirade with the fans, and was restrained by Orange Bowl security and threatened with arrest by Miami Athletic Director when he started to exhibit aggressive behavior. After cooling off, Mr. Wright stated he was merely trying to stick up for his son.[6][7]

Wright fractured his thumb during the loss to Virginia Tech, and the injury kept him out of the team's game the next week, a loss at Maryland. He underwent thumb surgery a week later, which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2006 season.[8] He was replaced by Kirby Freeman for the remainder of the season. Freeman led Miami to a season ending upset of Boston College and a narrow win over Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl on New Year's Eve.

2007 season

On August 28, 2007, Head Coach Randy Shannon named Kirby Freeman the starting quarterback over Kyle Wright for the season-opening game against Marshall.[9] In two starts, Freeman went 12-of-30 for 98 yards with one touchdown and one interception, placing Miami 118th out of 119 major college schools in passing offense both in average yards per game and yards per attempt. On September 11, 2007, Shannon announced that Wright would reclaim his starting role for the September 15th game against FIU.[10] Kyle Wright finished his final season with Miami by passing for 1,747 yards, and 12 touchdowns, and rushing for 66 yards and 3 touchdowns.

At the conclusion of his collegiate career, Wright's final statistics were as follows: 5,835 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, 31 interceptions. He rushed for -99 yards and 4 scores.

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Following the conclusion of his Miami career, Wright worked out with quarterbacks coach Tom Martinez in Northern California. In April 2008, Wright told the Miami Herald he expected to be selected in the NFL Draft, most likely on day two.

Wright was not drafted, but on April 28, 2008, signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings.[11] He was waived by the team on July 2.

San Francisco 49ers

On July 7, it was announced that the San Francisco 49ers had claimed Wright off waivers from the Vikings while waiving quarterback Drew Olson to make room.

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References
  1. and rivals.com. Kyle Wright profile on Scout.com
  2. "Rivals.com". footballrecruiting.rivals.com.
  3. "Kyle Wright Official biography at University of Miami site". Archived from the original on 2006-10-30.
  4. "- Football". Archived from the original on 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  5. "Unfamiliar Depths". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  6. "With fans like these..." PalmBeachPost.com. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  7. "Sunday Shout Outs: The Day After V-Tech". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  8. "Canes lose Wright for season". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
  9. "Freeman to start for Miami". ESPN.com. 28 August 2007.
  10. "After Sooners stinker, Miami to start Wright at QB". ESPN.com. 11 September 2007.
  11. "Draft Daddy: 2008 NFL Draft: Prospects, Position Rankings, Senior Bowl, Combine". Archived from the original on 2008-05-16.
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