Drew Plitt has been with the Arlington Renegades since day one, but his past success is what has brought him here to the XFL as one of the few rookie quarterbacks.
High School Football Experience
Plitt went to high school in Loveland, Ohio where he played quarterback for the Tigers. His biggest achievement at Loveland was leading the school to the 2013 Division II state title which was the school’s first state championship ever. In 2015, he threw for over 1,400 yards with 15 passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns in ten games. He was the team captain and was honorable mention all-district as a senior.
While deciding which college to go to, Plitt had offers from Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, and Lafayette. In the end, he decided to pick Ball State as the college of his choice. His former high school head coach Fred Cranford told Cincinnati.com what kind of quarterback the school was going to get.
“Drew’s quarterback style and talent will allow him to be crazy successful there. Ball State is getting a championship, high character quarterback. Ball State loves his talent and style, his leadership and quarterback intangibles.”
Loveland Head Football Coach Fred Cranford via Cincinnati.com
Ball State Experience
In his first year in college back in 2016, Plitt was redshirted for the season as a freshman. The next year in 2017, he started the season as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart. Due to injuries to the quarterback position, Plitt was forced into action and played in the last five games of the season starting three of them. He finished his first season with 430 passing yards and three touchdowns along with three interceptions. Plitt also ran for 29 yards and one touchdown in the season.
In 2018, he was able to move up on the depth chart as the backup quarterback for Ball State. He played in eight games while starting the last three games of the season as this would be the point where he would start taking over the starting job. In one of his starts, he completed over 80 percent of his passes and had three touchdowns against Western Michigan earning him MAC West Offensive Player of the Week.
From 2019 until 2021, Drew Plitt would be the starting quarterback for Ball State as he would start all 33 possible games for the team. Plitt led them to a winning record in 2020 finishing the season 7-1 on the season and winning the MAC Conference Championship against Buffalo 38-28. The team went to two straight bowl games with Plitt at quarterback in 2020 and 2021 winning one in 2020 against 22nd-ranked San Jose State in the Arizona Bowl 34-13. He was named MVP of the game for his performance, throwing for 217 yards, and scoring two total touchdowns.
Plitt finished his five-year college career with 9,061 passing yards and 68 touchdowns while also rushing for 423 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. Among all Ball State quarterbacks, Plitt is third in passing touchdowns and fourth in school history in passing yards. He earned 2020 Second-Team All-MAC Team honors for his stellar season with Ball State. From 2018 through 2020 he also earned Academic All-MAC honors.
NFL Experience
Plitt would go into the NFL Draft in 2022 with the hopes of being drafted in the later rounds of the draft. That did not happen for him as he went undrafted in the NFL Draft. He would participate in minicamps for multiple NFL teams trying out for teams. Plitt would get his break with the Cincinnati Bengals where he was at their minicamp back in May of 2022. His play earned him a contract with the team in July of 2022, being signed as an undrafted free agent.
Going into training camp, Plitt was competing with Brandon Allen and Jake Browning to be the backup to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. He would get his first chance at preseason play when the Bengals played the Arizona Cardinals in their preseason opener. Plitt would impress as he completed all six of his passes for 76 yards and one touchdown. To top it off, he had a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 to finish the game.
In their next game against the New York Giants, Plitt got playing time again, but would only complete one of his two passes for 17 yards in the loss. This would be the last game Plitt would play for the Cincinnati Bengals as he would get released from the team prior to their last preseason game on August 23rd, 2022.
Before The XFL Season
The XFL did something different that other alternative football leagues have not done before and that was focused on developing quarterbacks. How they did that was they created a position called “Director of Quarterback Development” and their job was to work with quarterbacks before the season on everything from throwing motions to feet work. The league hired Jordan Palmer for that role as he originally worked with nine quarterbacks to start. Drew Plitt was of those nine.
XFL News Hub’s Mike Mitchell originally reported that eight of the quarterbacks were assigned to teams with Plitt being assigned to the Arlington Renegades. This would officially become a reality in November when the league announced the first batch of quarterbacks to their teams. Plitt and Kyle Sloter joined the Arlington Renegades as their first two quarterbacks.
Since then, Plitt has been on the active roster for the Renegades as one of their quarterbacks. This is in the hopes of improving his game and getting another shot at the NFL.
Unleash the Action: Sign up for XFL Insider and Fuel Your Passion for Football!
