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Princeton University Athletics
Top Male Athletes Of The Decade: No. 4 Jeff Terrell ?07
December 23, 2009 | Football
The quarterback of the 2005 and 2006 football team, Terrell led Princeton to a 16-4 record in 20 starts and ended his career fourth all-time in passing and third all-time in total offense at Princeton.
Terrell was the quarterback during the magical 2006 season that ended with the Tigers' first Ivy League title since 1995. Terrell won the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Player of the Year and joined Jason Garrett as the only Princeton quarterbacks to ever win the Ivy League's top football honor.
Terrell led the Ivy League in passing yards per game (244.5), pass efficiency (131.3), touchdown passes (17) and total offense per game (271.7). His total offense and passing yardage stats ranked him in the Top 10 nationally, and his leadership helped Princeton to its first nine-win season since 1964 and a Top 20 finish in the national polls.
With Terrell as its leading man, Princeton ended losing streaks of nine, nine, seven and 4four games to Harvard, Penn, Lehigh and Yale.
In his final month as a starter, with no margin for error in the Ivy League race, Terrell threw for seven touchdowns and ran for two others in wins over Penn, Yale and Dartmouth to clinch the Ivy title. He was named the National Offensive Player of the Week after rallying Princeton from a trio of 14-point deficits and throwing for 445 yards in a dramatic 34-31 win at Yale. That performance, which ranks as the fourth-best single-game passing performance in Princeton history, also clinched Princeton's first sweep of the H-Y-P series since 1994.
He is perhaps best known for taking a lateral from Rob Toresco after Toresco was stopped short on a fourth-and-goal and running it in for a touchdown in the second overtime against Penn. It is one of the most famous single plays in Princeton athletic history.