Drew Plitt (born January 9, 1998) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Ball State Cardinals The Ball State Cardinals are the athletic teams that represent Ball State University, located in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals are part of the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. Charlie Cardinal is the team mascot. The Ball State Univer ...

Early life

Plitt grew up in

Loveland, Ohio Loveland is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, Hamilton, Clermont County, Ohio, Clermont, and Warren County, Ohio, Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 13,307 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, and attended Loveland High School, where he played basketball and football. As a junior, he passed for 1,346 yards and 13 touchdowns. Plitt committed to play

for the

over offers from

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' ...

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, and Lafayette.

College career

Plitt

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season at Ball State. He mostly served as the Cardinals' backup during the following two seasons. Plitt passed for 2,918 yards and 24 touchdowns with seven interceptions as a redshirt junior. He completed 65.6% of his pass attempts for 2,164 yards and 17 touchdowns to six interceptions in eight games during the team's COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and was named second-team All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC). Plitt was named the Offensive MVP of the

2020 MAC Championship Game The 2020 MAC Championship Game was a college football game played on Friday, December 18, 2020, at Ford Field in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, to determine the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2020 champion of the Mid-American Conference ( ...

after completing 20 of 32 pass attempts for 263 yards and three touchdowns and also rushing for a touchdown in the

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

' 38–28 win over

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

. He was also named the MVP of the 2020 Arizona Bowl as Ball State beat 22nd-ranked

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

34–13 in the first bowl game win in program history. Plitt decided to utilize the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes who played in the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic and return to Ball State for a sixth season. In his final season, he passed for 2,541 yards and 18 touchdowns while also rushing for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals (first stint)

Plitt went unselected in the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

and participated in minicamps as a tryout player for several teams, including for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

in May 2022. The Bengals eventually signed him as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

on July 27. In the team's preseason opener against the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

, Plitt completed all six of his pass attempts for 76 yards and one touchdown to register a perfect

passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

of 158.3. Plitt was waived by the Bengals on August 23, 2022.

Arlington Renegades (first stint)

Plitt was assigned to the

Arlington Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The Renegades compete in the United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded as the Dallas Renegades by Vince McMah ...

of the XFL on November 15, 2022. He was placed on the reserve list by the team on April 3, 2023, due to a knee injury. He finished the season with five games played, three starts, 63 completions for 100 attempts, 668 passing yards, three touchdowns, five interceptions, and a 71.6 QBR. He was activated off of the reserve list on May 16, 2023. He was released from his contract on November 20, 2023.

Cincinnati Bengals (second stint)

After a season ending injury to

Joe Burrow Joseph Lee Burrow (born December 10, 1996) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, O ...

, the Bengals signed Plitt to their practice squad on November 20, 2023. He was not signed to a reserve/future contract after the season and thus became a free agent when his practice squad contract expired.

Arlington Renegades (second stint)

On February 8, 2024, Plitt re-signed with the Renegades. He was released on March 10, 2024.

St. Louis Battlehawks

On May 16, 2024, Plitt signed with the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League(UFL). He was released on May 22.

Professional statistics

References

External links

Ball State Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plitt, Drew 1998 births Living people Players of American football from Ohio American football quarterbacks Arlington Renegades players Ball State Cardinals football players Cincinnati Bengals players Sportspeople from Loveland, Ohio Sportspeople from the Cincinnati metropolitan area St. Louis Battlehawks players