SEC quarterback flexes NIL money in viral video following mid-season benching

A truly terrible look for this SEC quarterback and perhaps the program he's apart of

Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Zach Calzada (5) | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

There are many positives to the NIL/revenue-sharing era of college athletics. However, one SEC quarterback just became a big bright shining example of how money can be totally mis-spent.

Last December, Kentucky's football program finished 4-8 while their starting quarterback retired from football following the year. The Wildcats replaced him via the transfer portal with the starting QB from Incarnate Word, Zach Calzada, who had helped lead a win over Alabama as the Texas A&M quarterback a few years prior. UK made him a priority, certainly handed him a decent payday, and anointed him the new starter.

Well, from there, the Zach Calzada experiment has been an unmitigated disaster. His most notable moment on the field was a viral clip of him mouthing the words "what the (fudge) is going on" while he played about as bad at the QB position as you could possibly expect from an SEC starter.

According to PFF's numbers, among QBs who dropped back to pass at least 50 times this year, Zach Calzada ranks 174th out of 179 in passing grade, and he's only played in two games, one against Toledo at home. Unsurprisingly, he was benched for redshirt freshman Cutter Boley during a pitiful outing against Ole Miss in a Week 2 loss and hasn't sniffed the field since.

This week, Calzada, nearing 25 years old, got his name back in the news for the following video, in which he taunted some random dude named Garrett while flashing stacks of his $100 bills, which he seemingly received from Kentucky and/or its boosters to play QB this fall.

Glad Zach Calzada is loving life or whatever pic.twitter.com/c2LKql4CT2

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 7, 2025

We aren't saying this is definitely the case, but this doesn't look like the behavior of a totally sober dude. Either way, it's an atrocious look for him, likely ending any remaining hope at a possible pro contract, while the video doesn't make Mark Stoops' program look too great, either, which is tough for a coach on a fairly hot seat.

You've got to wonder what the university boosters are thinking seeing at least some of their investment in the football team go up in flames with Calzada. The saving grace for Wildcat fans is their redshirt freshman quarterback and former four-star recruit Cutter Boley, who has salvaged the offense from total wreckage under Calzada's lead and just helped Kentucky win its first SEC game of the season on the road over Auburn.

Zach Calzada might have just lost the college football internet day on Thursday, but sure, at least he's got his money up, for now.