First, if you wish, peruse this article by Seth Emerson: Mettenberger: From 'outcast' at Georgia to starter at LSU.

Or, if you prefer, here is the money quote: “It’s something I think about every day,” he said. “It’s definitely something I don’t want to be (in) that situation again. But at the same time God had his plan for me, and it’s worked out for the best. Hopefully I can take this opportunity and run with it.”

Can I just go ahead and say how tired I am of athletes (and others) who break rules and/or run afoul of the law, only to recover from these "situations" (as Mr. Mettenberger so diplomatically puts it) due almost entirely to the fact that they are so talented that some desperate program is willing to take them on, and finally to claim that it was all God's plan?

Really, Zach? It was God's plan for you to get busted for underage drinking? It was God's plan for you to be in that, ahem, altercation that got you kicked off the team? I wonder if the young lady who was involved feels the same way. I wonder if her family feels the same way.

Sorry for the rant. I realize that Mettenberger's transgressions were all misdemeanors. I just can't stand this kind of pass-the-buck rationalizing, especially when it's being laid at the feet of the Big Man Upstairs.