Football, 1991-94

Senior Eric Zeier in 1994 became not only the most prolific passer in the history of the quarterback-rich Southeastern Conference, he also became only the third quarterback in NCAA Division I history to throw for more than 11,000 yards in his career.

By the end of his senior season, Zeier held 67 school passing records and 18 marks in the Southeastern Conference, a league which has fielded such greats as Kentucky's Babe Parilli Georgia's John Rauch, Zeke Bratkowski, and Fran Tarkenton, Alabama's Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, and Scott Hunter, Auburn's Jimmy Sidle and Pat Sullivan, Florida's Steve Spurrier, John Reaves, and Shane Matthews, and Ole Miss' Archie Manning. When his last pass had been thrown, Zeier stood ahead of all of them in virtually every statistical category.

Only two quarterbacks in NCAA Division I history threw for more yards than Zeier. The Georgia senior finished his career with more passing yards than former college greats Jim McMahon and Steve Young (BYU), David Klingler and Andre Ware (Houston), John Elway (Stanford), Randall Cunningham (UNLV), Dan Marino (Pitt), and Brett Favre (S. Miss).

He was named first team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association--the only team voted on by the nation's coaches themselves. Auburn's Terry Bowden said "Eric Zeier is the finest quarterback I've ever seen in this league." Kentucky's Bill Curry said "He may be the best quarterback I've ever seen. He's as good as I've ever competed against." Zeier finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy balloting after finishing 10th in 1993.

Among his most impressive SEC records are Career Passing Yards (11,153), Career Completions (838), Career Total Offense (10,841), Consecutive Attempts Without An Interception (176), Career Lowest Percentage of Interceptions (2.64%), Season Passing Yards (3,525), and Passing Yards in a Single Game (544). And while no quarterback in SEC history had thrown for more than 400 yards more than once in a career, Zeier accomplished this feat on seven occasions, four of which came in 1994.