Posted on 11/07/2025 8:06:25 PM PST by nickcarraway
Kentucky quarterback Zach Calzada apologized Friday for sending a video to someone on social media in which he boasted about the amount of NIL money he has received from the Wildcats this season.
The video, which was posted to X by a different person, showed Calzada counting a large stack of $100 bills.
Calzada, who turns 25 on Saturday, said he sent the video to someone who had apparently criticized his play this season.
In the video, Calzada tells the fan, "Hey, what you need to do, Garrett, is your ass needs to stop hatin' and go get you some money. But since you ain't got nothing, you go ahead and you can count mine."
"Let's count," Calzada said, as he fanned the $100 bills.
"Don't lose count, Garrett," Calzada continued. "Straight hundreds."
A Kentucky spokesman told the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday, "Zach has taken responsibility for his actions. He has done the right thing and apologized. Now, it's time to move forward."
Calzada, who is playing his seventh season of college football, started the first two games for the Wildcats in 2025. He was ineffective, completing 47.2% of his attempts for 234 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Calzada injured his throwing shoulder in the fourth quarter of a 30-23 loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 6.
Freshman Cutter Boley took over and has started the past six games, throwing for 1,376 yards with 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
Calzada, from Buford, Georgia, started his career at Texas A&M in 2019. His best season came in 2021, when he replaced injured Haynes King and went 6-4 as the starter. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 285 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in the Aggies' 41-38 upset of then-No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 9, 2021.
Calzada transferred to Auburn in 2022 but never played in a game after undergoing surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.
He spent the past two seasons at FCS program Incarnate Word, where he was named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2024 and Player of the Year last season, when he threw for 3,744 yards with 35 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
The Wildcats (3-5, 1-5 SEC) host Florida (3-5, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
I haven’t cared since the mid 80s and hate just about all of them:
The spouse is the sports nut.
Have you seen the video? Hardly “standard issue”.
Doesn’t look black to me.
Redshirts, medical redshirt, and COVID.
Calzada’s situation is the reason it is difficult for me to be a college football fan rooting for any team. The players don’t represent the school. They represent their own contracts.
The “rah-rah, hey the students at my school are better than yours” factor is GONE. Now, it’s” my semi-autonomous athletic department can recruit and pay better players than your school can”
It’s complete idiocy to be paying these guys.
It doesn't cost them nothing....
NIL ruined college football...
It still has to be a lot of money. What happens when they graduate?
Gee Mark, you think you could have bothered to tell us what NIL money is?
They graduate with a degree that was given to them by the school. They learned nothing of value while in school because they seldom attended class and when they attended, left at first break. When they graduate some State will hire them and give them a position running the State Government.
They won’t be able to afford upkeep, insurance, and taxes on an exotic car that is depreciating.
I’m sure his academic record is filled with strenuous courses and good grades after 7 years of college.
7th season. Is his name Blutarski? Lol. Did he just get kicked out of Faber? Lol Animal House is a classic, great movie.
Deaf also? “Content of character”.
I was typing while talking to someone else.
Talking is temporary, the internet is forever.
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