Playing his seventh college football season, Zach Calzada has made some headlines over his career. Beating Alabama on a bum leg, topping passing touchdowns at Incarnate Word, and more. Seeing his arm strength and experience, Mark Stoops brought him to Kentucky. But neither the HC nor Kentucky expected the QB’s ‘money-antics’ to dominate the headlines.

Promised to be an explosive weapon for Stoops, his Kentucky season fizzled out with poor performance and an injury to his throwing shoulder. Zach Calzada was already benched for redshirt freshman Cutter Boley, owing to inconsistencies. Previously, it was reported that the 24-year-old was paid to come to the UK. Wildcat Blue Nation’s Drew Holbrook wrote, “Calzada is a guy this staff scouted, vetted, and paid to come to be the QB at Kentucky.” And now? Those $100 bills have brought him to the spotlight, and for obvious reasons, it’s not good PR for the Wildcats.

The crux of the whole issue is a Twitter feud going on between Zach Calzada and an individual named ‘Garrett.’ On Friday, Garrett shared a video on X that showed the QB flexing $100 bills on the camera. “What you need to do, Garrett…is your a– needs to stop hating and go get some money,” Calzada, clad in a black hoodie, continued to mock the critic, “But since ya ain’t got nothing! You go ahead, and you can count mine,” the QB adds as he is fanning out the cash, taking a jibe against Garrett. “Let’s count.” “Don’t lose count, Garrett,” he adds while music blasts off in the background.

He then proceeds to lay out the cash on the floor, giving a nice view of the stacked bills, as he continues his chant of “Go get some money”. This all only started as Garrett had critiqued the performance of the 24-year-old.

Garrett’s X account shows him from Kentucky. His feed is filled with reposts about Wildcats’ athletics. As it seems, he criticized the QB’s skills, with a user named Justin writing in the comments. “The Garrett guy admits in this thread that he sent Calzada a Snapchat message telling him he sucked at football lol then he proceeded to leak the vid. Definitely a hating a– weirdo 😂.” Garrett responded to Calzada’s jibe by making that video public, calling him a clown.

“I got my money, Zach! lol you’re a clown buddy,” with his username as ‘@Gotmymoneyzach. “Can’t believe stoop wasted 1 million on this! Time for a change!” However, you cannot escape netizens’ fury. After the video was made public. It instantly garnered over 228K views in the space of 12 hours. Even the Wildcats faithful are not happy over the antics of their QB.

Cries erupt over Zach Calzada’s viral video

The 24-year-old veteran play-caller came to Kentucky with a stacked resume, completing 3,774 yards and 35 touchdowns last season. With similar aspirations, the Wildcats welcomed him but could not glimpse that promise in his performance so far. That frustration, coupled with the viral video, has led fans to demand action against him. One user wrote, “Start Zach Calzada on Saturday and tell the line to not block all game.”

In his two performances since coming to Kentucky, he has failed to make a significant impact. Against Toledo, he threw 10-of-23 passes, with a score and an interception. Facing off against Ole Miss, he made 15-of-30 attempts, recording zero touchdowns and a QB rating of 25.3. That’s why the netizens are frustrated. “What kind of vetting process was there before Zach Calzada was handpicked to be the face of Kentucky football before this season?”

The majority of the points in those games were recorded through field goals and Seth McGowan’s run game. Bleed Blue Network’s Kentucky fan community handle X, responded with, “What a horrible look. Not only for Calzada but UK as a program in general.” Although after the Toledo Mess, the head coach had stated that he still had confidence in his QB, saying that it would have been immature to pull the plug.

Another user wrote, taking Calzada’s POV, “Sounds like he got triggered by people hating him for not playing and thought this would show them. He just needs to stay off social media.” Against Ole Miss, his headset issues didn’t really help, as he struggled to make plays. Meanwhile, Wildcats’ basketball player, Khalil Whitney, responded with, “I guess Garrett should go get some money, huh 😂🤦🏿‍♂️.”

One thing is certain: Coach Mark Stoops and Kentucky had not expected their veteran QB to make some noise with this approach.