Steven Montez

QB · Colorado 2019 · #12

Last confirmed: Colorado, 2019. No 2026 box-score games on record.

6′5″ · 230 lb · El Paso, TX

Steven Montez: QB · Colorado · #12.

Players he’s like

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Phil JurkovecBoston College · 2020 · 81% season match
Mitch LeidnerMinnesota · 2015 · 78% season match
Matt JohnsVirginia · 2015 · 76% season match
Eric DungeySyracuse · 2018 · 76% season match
Blake BarnettSouth Florida · 2018 · 74% season match

Steven Montez

QB · Colorado · Sr · #12

Keeps the offense on schedule and doesn't lose the game. Steven Montez has played for three head coaches in four seasons at Colorado. A game that shows it: 375 passing yards and 2 passing TD against Nebraska — Week 2, 2019.

How he plays

Play style

Consistent underneath passer who protects the lead. Rarely loses games; rarely wins them alone.

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

48.2%Completion %

22.6%Conversion/dropback

48.1%Land short of sticks

2INTs

48.2% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 22.6% conversion-per-dropback — 48.1% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

1/15Inside-5 share

1 of the team's 15 inside-the-5 carries (6.7%).

News and fans

No outlet on our list has written about him by name this season.

Colorado in the news

Former Colorado player calls out Deion SandersYahoo Sports Oct 20
ESPN host feuds with Deion SandersYahoo Sports Oct 15
Mora fires Summers as DCFootballScoop Oct 4
Colorado dismisses players after lossBleacher Report Oct 4

Where to follow him

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2019	Colorado	255	405	63.0%	2,808	6.9	17	10	130.1	52
2018	Colorado	257	398	64.6%	2,848	7.2	19	9	135.9	44
2017	Colorado	228	377	60.5%	2,975	7.9	18	9	137.7	57
2016	Colorado	83	140	59.3%	1,078	7.7	9	5	138.0	63
Career		823	1,320	62.3%	9,709	7.4	63	33	134.9	52

Season	Team
2019	Colorado	65	153	2.4	3
2018	Colorado	94	238	2.5	4
2017	Colorado	132	338	2.6	3
2016	Colorado	52	231	4.4	1
Career		343	960	2.8	11

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2019 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 52-31vs Colorado State	13/20	232	2	0	11.6	94.9
Wk 2	W 34-31vs No. 25 Nebraska	28/41	375	2	1	9.1	51.7	Season-high 375 yds
Wk 3	L 23-30vs Air Force	26/43	220	2	1	5.1	39.8
Wk 4	W 34-31@ No. 24 Arizona State	23/30	337	3	0	11.2	95.3	3 TD passes
Wk 6	L 30-35vs Arizona	28/42	299	1	0	7.1	56.6
Wk 7	L 3-45@ No. 13 Oregon	19/34	131	0	4	3.9	24.7	4 INTs — rough day
Wk 8	L 10-41@ Washington State	16/30	129	0	2	4.3	12.4
Wk 9	L 31-35vs USC	27/43	324	3	0	7.5	74.9	3 TD passes
Wk 10	L 14-31@ UCLA	21/38	195	1	1	5.1	—
Wk 11	W 16-13vs Stanford	20/30	186	0	1	6.2	—
Wk 13	W 20-14vs Washington	17/28	223	1	0	8.0	—
Wk 14	L 15-45@ No. 6 Utah	17/26	157	2	0	6.0	—
Total		255/405	2808	17	10	6.9	—

Signature game

Week 9 · 2019

L 31-35

vs USC

324 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 74.9 · 45 rush yds (7 car) · 1 TD

With A. Kinney — 42.3 yards per punt · 6 punts · 60 long · L. Shenault Jr. — 9 rec · 172 yds · 1 TD · 17 rush yds (1 car)

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 2 · Nebraska · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +6.94Steven Montez pass complete to K.D. Nixon for 96 yds for a TD, (James Stefanou KICK)
Week 9 · USC · 2nd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +6.19Steven Montez pass complete to Laviska Shenault Jr. for 71 yds for a TD, (James Stefanou KICK)
Week 11 · Stanford · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA −4.16Steven Montez pass intercepted J.J. Parson return for 11 yds to the Stanf 36
Week 11 · Stanford · 3rd and 14 · Q2 · EPA +4.03Steven Montez pass complete to Laviska Shenault Jr. for 29 yds to the Stanf 31 for a
Week 2 · Nebraska · 2nd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +3.99Steven Montez pass complete to Jaylon Jackson for 57 yds to the Neb 7 for a
Week 6 · Arizona · 3rd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +3.98Steven Montez pass complete to Tony Brown for 49 yds to the Ariz 15 for a

4 more plays

Week 7 · Oregon · 4th and 1 · Q3 · EPA −3.97Steven Montez pass complete to Dimitri Stanley for a loss of 3 yards to the Oregn 15
Week 8 · Washington State · 3rd and 7 · Q2 · EPA −3.93Steven Montez pass intercepted, touchback. George Hicks III return for no gain
Week 7 · Oregon · 3rd and 11 · Q2 · EPA −3.85Steven Montez pass intercepted, touchback. Verone McKinley III return for no gain
Week 14 · Utah · 3rd and 16 · Q4 · EPA +3.80Steven Montez pass complete to Deion Smith for 20 yds to the Utah 35 for a

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

255/405 (63.0%) · 17 TD · 10 INT

401 of 405 attempts matched to play-by-play

Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 401 passing plays (252 completions) against the box score's 405 attempts (255 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.

Adjusted ANY/A

6.04114 of 205 QBs

Sack rate

4.7%60 of 205 QBs

Rarely sacked (60 of 205), but Adjusted ANY/A hasn't followed (114 of 205).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

58%of completions

147 comp4.8 yds avg3 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

29%of completions

72 comp13.7 yds avg2 TD

Deep

20+ yds

13%of completions

33 comp32.3 yds avg10 TD

Overall 63.0% completion on 405 attempts · 33 deep completions averaging 32.3 yds.

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2019 baseline

No situation moves him more than 19 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-19 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 5/133 (3.8%) · league sack rate 4.8%

Down 2

+8 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 3/135 (2.2%) · league sack rate 5.5%

Down 3+

+12 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 7/114 (6.1%) · league sack rate 9.0%

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Teams and coaches

2016Colorado10-4HC: Mike MacIntyre · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2017Colorado5-7HC: Mike MacIntyre · Run-leaning

2018Colorado5-7HC: Kurt Roper · Balanced

2019Colorado5-7HC: Mel Tucker · Balanced

Our ratings

Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: fumbles lost (93rd percentile). Concern: explosive rate (25th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Sack rate#51 / 189 · 73rd pct

4.8%

EPA / dropback#93 / 189 · 51st pct

0.23

Success rate#94 / 189 · 50th pct

41.1%

Interception rate#101 / 189 · 47th pct

2.5%

Explosive rate#143 / 189 · 25th pct

8.2%

Box-score rates (8)

Fumbles lost#1 / 166 · 93rd pct

Pass yards#50 / 177 · 72nd pct

2808

Completion %#55 / 177 · 69th pct

63.0%

Pass TDs#62 / 177 · 64th pct

Rush TDs#65 / 177 · 60th pct

Rush yards#79 / 177 · 55th pct

153

Yards / att#112 / 177 · 35th pct

6.9

Interceptions#144 / 177 · 16th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

46th → 51st percentile

Success rate

47th → 50th percentile

Explosive rate

34th → 25th percentile

Sack rate

43rd → 73rd percentile

Interception rate

59th → 47th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2019 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

High confidence: 382 dropbacks

52Zeitgeist Passer Rating75th of 140 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 130.1 90th of 140 FBS QBs

ZPR ranks him 15 places higher than passer rating does: passer rating cannot see sacks, and he takes one on only 3.9% of dropbacks.

Positive-play rate weight 24%

46.7%61th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · -1.5% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

6.9937th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · +0.1 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

4.3%79th pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · +0.4% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (39 of 421 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2019 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home6g	271	1.5	7.2	0.5
Road5g	190	1.2	6.1	1.4

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	266	1.7	8.0	1.0
Weeks 8+6g	202	1.2	6.2	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2019 season

Head Coach

Mel Tucker

Pass share

49.0%

410 pass / 427 run

Plays / game

69.8

12 games

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2019

Impact starter

405 pass attempts and 65 carries in 12 games, about as many passes and runs a game as a typical FBS quarterback who plays every week.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex