Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967) is an American former
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 won the
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...
,
Maxwell Award, and
Davey O'Brien Award in 1990 while playing
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
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
(BYU)
Cougars. Detmer broke numerous
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA) records with BYU and was twice recognized as a consensus
All-American
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
. He also played professionally in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL). A late-round pick in the
1992 NFL draft, Detmer played for six NFL teams over 14 seasons, mostly in a backup role. He is currently the athletic director at
American Leadership Academy – Gilbert North High School in
Gilbert, Arizona
Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Gilbert is home to 288,128 residents. It is the fifth-most populous municipality in Arizona and is considered a suburb of Phoenix.
I ...
.
After his playing career, Detmer became a coach. He was the
offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...
at BYU from 2015 to 2017.
He is the older brother of former NFL quarterback
Koy Detmer.
Early life
Detmer was born in
San Marcos, Texas.
[National Football League, Historical Players]
Ty Detmer
Retrieved February 24, 2012. He attended Hobby Middle School, Mount Sacred Heart Middle School, and
United Middle School in Laredo, Texas, and
Southwest High School in
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
.
[databaseFootball.com, Players, . Retrieved February 24, 2012.] He earned letters in
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
, football,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
, and
track. As a senior, Detmer won high school All-American honors in football and was the Texas Player of the Year. He also won all-state honors in baseball and all-district accolades in basketball.
College career
Detmer attended BYU, where he played for football for the Cougars from 1987 to 1991. In deciding which college to attend, he was in part attracted by BYU's alcohol-free environment. He
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 ...
for the Cougars during the 1987 season, and shared quarterback duties with
Sean Covey
Sean Covey (born September 17, 1964) is an American business executive, author, and motivational speaker, speaker. He is President of FranklinCovey Education and also serves as Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships. Covey's works inclu ...
as a redshirt freshman in 1988. Detmer started only one game that year, but he made the most of the opportunity, passing for 333 yards and five touchdowns in a 65–0 victory over
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. Later, he was named Most Valuable Player of the 1988
Freedom Bowl
The Freedom Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, from 1984 to 1994.
The bowl frequently invited a team from the Western Athletic Conference to compete against an at-large opp ...
, after entering the game as a substitute and leading BYU to a come-from-behind 20–17 victory over the
Colorado Buffaloes.
Detmer became the full-time starter in 1989. He emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, passing for 4,560 yards and 32 touchdowns during the regular season. His passer rating of 175.6 led the NCAA, and he finished second to
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
's
Andre Ware in total offense. He led BYU to a
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington.
Due to ...
(WAC) Championship, the team's first since 1985. Detmer finished the season with a strong performance against
Penn State in the
1989 Holiday Bowl, setting NCAA records for most passing yards (576) and most yards of total offense (594) in a single bowl game. He finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Detmer's 1990 junior season ranks as one of the greatest seasons for a quarterback in college football history. He passed for 5,188 yards and 41 touchdowns in 12 regular-season games and finished the year with 42 NCAA records (and tied for five others). The high point of the season was BYU's 28–21 upset victory over the top-ranked
Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...
; Detmer led the Cougars by passing for 406 yards and three touchdowns against the defending national champions. For his performance that season, he was awarded the Heisman Trophy, as well as many other honors including the
Maxwell
Maxwell may refer to:
People
* Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist
* Justice Maxwell (disambiguation)
* Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...
and
Davey O'Brien awards. He was recognized as a consensus first-team
All-American
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
, having been named to the first teams of the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
,
UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
,
Newspaper Enterprise Association, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp Foundation, ''Football News'',
Scripps Howard, and the ''
Sporting News
''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...
''. Unfortunately for Detmer and BYU, the season ended in disastrous fashion: the Cougars lost 59–28 in their final regular-season game against
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
on the back of four Detmer interceptions, then lost 65–14 to
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
in the
1990 Holiday Bowl. Detmer was knocked out of the game against Texas A&M, suffering two separated shoulders that required off-season surgery.
The 1991 season started poorly for BYU, as the Cougars lost their first three games (on a neutral field against #1
Florida State and road contests against #23
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
and #12
Penn State). After the 0–3 start, Detmer and BYU turned things around. The Cougars won eight straight games and clinched their third consecutive WAC championship with a 52–52 tie against
San Diego State in their final regular-season road game. In that contest, BYU fell behind 45–17 before Detmer led a comeback. He finished the game with 599 passing yards and six touchdowns, both career highs. In his final game as a Cougar, Detmer passed for 350 yards to lead BYU to a 13–13 tie against heavily favored #7
Iowa
Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
in the
1991 Holiday Bowl. He totaled 4,031 passing yards and 35 touchdowns in regular season play during his senior year. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting but won the Davey O'Brien Award again and also earned the
Sammy Baugh Trophy and
Today's Top VI Award. Additionally, he was again recognized as a consensus first-team
All-American
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
.
Detmer finished his college career with the following totals: 1,530 pass attempts; 958 completions;
15,031 passing yards; 121 touchdown passes; 14,665 yards of total offense; 135 touchdowns responsible for; and 162.7 passer rating—all NCAA records at the time. In total, he finished his college career with 59 NCAA records and tied for three others. Including statistics from bowl games, Detmer amassed 16,206 passing yards and 127 touchdown passes at BYU. He graduated with a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in recreation administration. In 2012, Detmer was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame.
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Despite his success at BYU, many analysts thought that Detmer was too small to play quarterback in the NFL. The
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...
drafted him in the ninth round (230th pick overall) of the 1992
NFL Draft
The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
. Detmer spent four seasons with the Packers, but appeared in only seven games while serving as back-up to starter
Brett Favre.
Philadelphia Eagles
Detmer found more playing time after signing a free-agent contract with the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...
in 1996. After
Rodney Peete suffered a season ending knee injury, Detmer became the team's starting quarterback. Detmer posted a 4–0 record in his first four starts. In his first start against the division rival
New York Giants, Detmer completed 18 of 33 passes for 170 yards and no interceptions in the 19–10 victory. In his second start, he threw four touchdown passes (all to
Irving Fryar) against the
Miami Dolphins. The following week, he passed for a career-high 342 yards against the
Carolina Panthers. The next week, he passed for 217 yards and a touchdown and added his first career rushing touchdown against the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
. It was Philadelphia's first victory at Dallas since 1991, and earned Detmer the NFL Player of the Week award. A few weeks later, Detmer and the Eagles ended a three-game losing streak as they shut out the Giants in the rematch 24–0. Detmer threw three touchdowns in the win. For the year, Detmer passed for 2,911 yards and 15 touchdowns; his 80.8 passer rating ranked fourth among
NFC quarterbacks. The Eagles posted a 7–4 record with Detmer as the starter during the 1996 season, good enough to make the NFC playoffs. The following season, Detmer shared quarterback duties with Peete and
Bobby Hoying.
San Francisco 49ers
Detmer left Philadelphia in 1998 and joined the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
as a backup to
Steve Young. He spent only one season in San Francisco. His lone start came against the Panthers in which he passed for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 49ers' 25–23 victory. He was also the primary holder on field goals and PAT attempts, throwing a touchdown off a botched field goal attempt during a loss to the Patriots.
Cleveland Browns
Detmer was traded to the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...
in 1999; the Browns wanted him to mentor rookie quarterback
Tim Couch. Detmer started the first game of the 1999 season, then served as backup until Couch sprained his foot in week 15. He started the final game of the 1999 season.
Detmer injured his right
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...
and was inactive the entire 2000 season.
Detroit Lions
Detmer spent three seasons (2001–2003) with the
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
where he started four games during the 2001 season. His first start was a disaster: he threw seven interceptions against the Browns, the second-highest single-game total in NFL history (tied with seven other players). He was eventually replaced as starter, but did start the final two games of the season. He set career highs for attempts (50) and completions (31) against the
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
, finishing with 303 passing yards. He closed out the season with 242 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Cowboys.
Atlanta Falcons
Detmer spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, but did not see any action as the third-string quarterback behind
Michael Vick
Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980) is an American college football coach and former player who is the Head coach, head football coach at Norfolk State Spartans football, Norfolk State University. He played quarterback in the National F ...
and
Matt Schaub.
In 14 total seasons in the NFL, Detmer played in 54 games (with 25 starts), totaling 6,351 yards passing with 34 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Detmer did not officially retire from football at the time of his release from Atlanta, but he has not played since then.
Coaching career
In December 2009, he was appointed the new head football coach at
St. Andrew's Episcopal School. In December 2015, Detmer became the offensive coordinator
and
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 ...
s coach at BYU, under new head coach
Kalani Sitake. On November 27, 2017, Detmer was released from the coordinator position after just two seasons. The dismissal came following BYU football's poor performance over the previous year. Detmer was the head football coach at
American Leadership Academy's Queen Creek campus. He recently (2024) moved from the ALA-Queen Creek football program to ALA-Gilbert North North Football Program, assuming the Head Coach position at ALA-Gilbert North.
NFL career statistics
Personal life
Detmer's brother
Koy is a former NFL quarterback, and their father Sonny was a prominent San Antonio high school coach.
Detmer was a major investor in, and employed by, the Athlete Services Division at Triton Financial Corporation from 2007 to 2009.
After the firm collapsed, founder Kurt Barton was indicted for fraud. Detmer, who was not implicated in the scandal, claims to have lost more money than anyone else. Overly trusting of Barton, whom he met at church, Detmer became a victim of
affinity fraud.
See also
*
List of NCAA Division I FBS career passing yards leaders
*
List of NCAA Division I FBS career passing touchdowns leaders
*
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
*
List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Detmer, Ty
1967 births
Living people
American football quarterbacks
Atlanta Falcons players
BYU Cougars football coaches
BYU Cougars football players
Cleveland Browns players
Detroit Lions players
Green Bay Packers players
Mormon American football players
Philadelphia Eagles players
San Francisco 49ers players
High school football coaches in Texas
All-American college football players
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Heisman Trophy winners
Sportspeople from San Antonio
Players of American football from Guadalupe County, Texas
Players of American football from San Antonio
Converts to Mormonism
Latter Day Saints from Texas
Maxwell Award winners