Jared Lorenzen

Early years

Lorenzen attended Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In basketball, he was a three-year letterman and helped lead his team to Kentucky Sweet 16 appearances. As a junior, he passed for a Northern Kentucky-record 2,759 yards and 37 touchdowns in 13 games. As a senior in 1998, he completed 62 percent of his passes for 3,393 yards, 45 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed for 904 yards (8.4 average per carry) and 15 TDs in leading Highlands to a 15–0 season and No.19 national ranking as a senior, earning him the Mr. Football Award. Five games into his senior season, Lorenzen committed to the University of Kentucky.

College career

When Lorenzen arrived at Kentucky, he redshirted as a true freshman. As a redshirt freshman, he was named the team's starting quarterback by head coach Hal Mumme ahead of returning starter Dusty Bonner. The move caused Bonner to transfer. Lorenzen's career at Kentucky was marked by two head coaching changes; Mumme departed as an investigation into NCAA rules violations brought down his staff and resulted in the program being placed on probation with scholarship limitations. After Lorenzen helped lead the team to a 7–5 record in 2002, head coach Guy Morriss left to become the head coach at Baylor University and was replaced by Rich Brooks, who designed plays in which Lorenzen lined up as a receiver while Shane Boyd played quarterback. Despite all the turmoil, Lorenzen set school records in total offense, passing yards, and passing touchdowns, eclipsing many marks set by 1999 NFL No. 1 overall draft pick Tim Couch.

Statistics

Source:

Numbers in bold are Kentucky records.

New York Giants

Lorenzen was not selected in the 2004 NFL Draft and signed as undrafted free agent with the New York Giants.

In the 2006 preseason, Lorenzen led his team to victory by engineering a game-winning drive against the Baltimore Ravens. Following that performance and an impressive training camp he was officially named the Giants backup quarterback three weeks later.

Lorenzen made his first appearance on the field in a Giants uniform on December 30, 2006. During this game, he was used for one play, a quarterback sneak to make a first down on a third-and-one.

Lorenzen made his second appearance on Sunday, January 7, 2007, in the Giants wild card loss against the Philadelphia Eagles. On the Giants opening drive, he lined up at quarterback on a third-and-one and got the first down, "shifting the pile" in the process, on the way to a Giants touchdown. He also entered the game in the third quarter, but the Giants called a timeout and Manning took over at quarterback.

Lorenzen's first significant regular season appearance occurred on September 9, 2007, when he took over for the injured Manning in the fourth quarter of the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. Lorenzen made both his first regular season pass and rush, but failed to earn a first down. He did not see further action in the 2007 season, because Manning's injury did not cost him any further playing time.

Lorenzen was released by the Giants on June 23, 2008.

Indianapolis Colts

On July 24, 2008, Lorenzen was signed by the Indianapolis Colts. He was waived during the final cuts for the 53-man roster.

Kentucky Horsemen

On February 10, 2009, Lorenzen was assigned to the Kentucky Horsemen of af2. The team went bankrupt and was dissolved in October 2009.

Coaching

After the Horsemen folded, Lorenzen retired as a player. On March 23, 2010, he was hired as the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, Highlands High School, in Fort Thomas, Kentucky.

Northern Kentucky River Monsters

In 2011, Lorenzen went back to pro football, this time as working as the general manager of the Northern Kentucky River Monsters of the Ultimate Indoor Football League. Still wanting to compete (and despite being well over 300 lbs at the time), Lorenzen resigned as GM to become the team's starting quarterback. Lorenzen had a highly successful season, winning the league's MVP award.

UIFL Commissioner

After gaining some positive press for his return to football, Lorenzen was named commissioner of the league after the 2011 season.

Owensboro Rage

Still wanting to play, Lorenzen quit the UIFL's top job and signed with the Owensboro Rage of the Continental Indoor Football League partway through the 2013 season. The Rage folded two weeks prior to the end of the season due to financial distress.

Return to the River Monsters

Lorenzen returned to the River Monsters, by this point a member of the Continental Indoor Football League, on December 17, 2013. In Lorenzen's first game of the season, the now-320 pound Lorenzen showed that he still had plenty of skill, side-stepping defenders. Lorenzen's play was filmed and the videos ended up all over the internet, overshadowing the River Monsters' 36–20 victory of the Bluegrass Warhorses. The following week, however, Lorenzen broke his tibia in a 42–30 loss to the Erie Explosion, ending his season (and, to date, his pro playing career).

Post-football career

Currently, Lorenzen is a guest host of the Lexington-based radio show Kentucky Sports Radio, mainly during UK Football season. In 2015, he also started his own T-shirt company known as ThrowboyTees.

On July 28, 2017, Lorenzen launched "The Jared Lorenzen Project", where he will chronicle online his attempts at battling his obesity.