Green Bay Packers release former Virginia star quarterback Kurt Benkert

The Green Bay Packers officially released former Virginia Cavaliers star signal-caller Kurt Benkert on Friday afternoon, per Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. The franchise also announced the move on their website. He spent the entire 2021-2022 season on the Packers’ practice squad, appearing in one game as a COVID-19 replacement. The move leaves the franchise with three quarterbacks on their roster heading into the preseason: Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, and Danny Etling.

Recently, Benkert drew some attention on Twitter due to growing his hair out. Many people across the internet said he looked like Loki–the character played by Tom Hiddleston across multiple marvel movies and shows.

The Florida native began his college football career with the East Carolina Pirates, where he backed up their starter Shane Carden. He was set to take over as the starter for the Pirates in the 2015 season, but tore his ACL a week before the season started. Benkert then transferred to the Virginia Cavaliers for the next two seasons, where he enjoyed a prolific career.

He shattered several records and peppered his name all over the record books before he left the Cavalier program. At the time, he became Virginia’s single-season leader in passing yards (3,207 yards), completions (298), attempts (509), 200-plus passing yard games (9). The Cape Coral, Fla. native also set the record for passing yardage in a single game at the time (455 yards vs. the Uconn Huskies)–which happened in 2017.

Benkert currently sits in fifth place on the school’s all-time passing yardage list (5,759 yards). He’s also currently fifth in all-time passing touchdowns (46 touchdowns). He played his high school football for Island Coast (Cape Coral, Florida). According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2013 cycle, Benkert was rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 73 signal-caller in America.

An avid gamer, he recently noted that he’s made more money as a professional gamer than he has as a quarterback in the National Football League. Benkert has signed a couple of deals in the past few years with gaming sponsors. He was even the top ranked Fortnite player in the National Football League in back-to-back years. Whenever his professional football career does officially end, he’ll likely make a seamless transition into professional gaming.

On3’s Stephen Samra also contributed to this article.