Zachary Desmond Maynard (born July 29, 1989) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

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 ...

who played college football for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

and the

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Ame ...

. He is the older half-brother of current

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 ...

wide receiver

Keenan Allen Keenan Alexander Allen (born April 27, 1992) is an American professional football wide receiver. He played college football for the California Golden Bears before leaving after his junior year. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the th ...

Early years

Maynard attended

Grimsley High School Grimsley Senior High School (also known as Grimsley High School or simply Grimsley) is a four-year public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Formerly known as "Greensboro High School", "Greensboro Central High School", ...

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, where he led his team to a Metro League title as a senior in 2007. He committed to Buffalo to play for coach

Turner Gill Turner Hillery Gill (born August 13, 1962) is an American college athletic administrator and former football player and coach. He is the Executive Director of Student-Athlete and Staff Development at the University of Arkansas, a position he as ...

College career

Buffalo

Maynard began his college career as the backup quarterback to

Drew Willy Drew Willy (born November 13, 1986) is an American former professional Canadian football quarterback. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Buffalo Bulls football, Buffalo. Willy ...

, and saw limited action during the Bulls 2008 season, culminating with the team's 2008 MAC championship, and an appearance in the

2009 International Bowl The 2009 International Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game between the Connecticut Huskies football, Connecticut Huskies (UConn) and the Buffalo Bulls football, Buffalo Bulls at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, on January 3, 2009. Th ...

. For the 2009 season, Maynard took over for Willy as the team's starting quarterback and led the Bulls to a 5–7 record. During a 54–27 loss to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in the second week of the season, Maynard threw for 400 yards and 4 touchdowns. During the 2009 season, Maynard accounted for 2,994 yards of total offense, the second highest single-season total in Buffalo football history.

California

In January 2010, after

Jeff Quinn Jeffrey Quinn (born September 26, 1962) is an American football coach. He was formerly an assistant coach at the University of Notre Dame. Quinn served as the head football coach at the University at Buffalo from 2010 to 2014. He was the 24th hea ...

replaced

as Buffalo coach, Maynard transferred to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

to play for coach

Jeff Tedford Jeffrey Raye Tedford (born November 2, 1961) is an American football coach and former player. From 2002 to 2012, Tedford was the head football coach for the California Golden Bears, where he was twice named Pac-10 Coach of the Year and holds ...

. The move reunited him with his younger half-brother,

, who had committed to Cal to play wide receiver. After sitting out the 2010 season per NCAA transfer rules, Maynard won the starting job at Cal for the 2011 season. Maynard's 2,990 passing yards in 2011 were the third-highest single-season total in Cal history, as he led the Golden Bears to a 7–6 record and an appearance in the

2011 Holiday Bowl The 2011 Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, the 34th edition of the game, was a postseason American college football bowl game between the Texas Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference and the California Golden Bears of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) ...

. During the 2012 season, Maynard started nine games before an injury suffered in a game against

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

prematurely ended his season, as California slumped to a 3–9 record in what would prove to be Tedford's final season as coach of the Golden Bears.

College statistics

References

External links

California Golden Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maynard, Zach Living people Players of American football from Greensboro, North Carolina American football quarterbacks Buffalo Bulls football players California Golden Bears football players 1989 births Grimsley High School alumni