Matt Rutherford

"I was just another football player."

"I was just another football player."

Matt Rutherford is a recurring character on the first season of FOX TV Show, Glee. He is a former member of the Football Team and New Directions and joined in the episode Preggers. He had only two lines and was a minor recurring character in Season One, but is no longer seen after Season Two since he transferred to a different school. There were rumours that he was returning for Season Three, but this was false information. He was stated to be one of the best dancers in Season One. He returned in the two-part series finale, after being absent since the first season.

He is portrayed by actor Dijon Talton.

Biography
S1= Preggers

Ironically, Kurt joins the football team, when he reveals himself to be an excellent place kicker, thanks to his years of dance training. Ken decides to use Kurt's unusual training for the rest of the team, and has Kurt teach them the dance moves for Single Ladies. His jersey number was 11. Much to everyone's surprise, the dance training works spectacularly allowing them not only to become more fluid in their movements, but also allowing them to shock the rival school before performing the number on the field. After the football game, Matt found that he truly enjoys dancing and performing. Matt, along with best friends Noah Puckerman and Mike Chang, decide to join the group, despite it being social suicide for them.

The Rhodes Not Taken

April Rhodes joins the Glee Club to replace Rachel. Mr. Schuester worries that she hasn't been accepted by the kids, so she showers and is implied to have had sex with Matt, Mike, and Puck and soon wins them over. Matt performs background vocals in Finn and Quinn's version of Don't Stop Believin', as well as Last Name and Somebody to Love at the Club's Invitationals.

Vitamin D

Matt and the other singing males take pills to help them win their mash-ups competition. He performs background vocals in It's My Life/Confessions Part II.

Throwdown

Matt is selected to be part of "Sue's Kids" - a group for New Directions' minorities. He performs background vocals in Hate on Me and later Ride wit Me when both New Directions groups meet in secret to perform. After Sue tells everyone Quinn is pregnant, Matt performs background vocals in Keep Holding On, a ballad for Quinn.

Mash-Up

Mike, Puck, Matt, and Finn are later forced to choose between football and Glee by the Coach. Much to the Glee Group's surprise, Matt, Mike, and Puck decide to rejoin Glee and forego their spots on the football team. Thankfully, Ken reconsiders the separation, and allows the boys to return. Matt performs background vocals in Bust a Move and Sweet Caroline.

Wheels

The Glee Club is forced to spend three hours a day in wheelchairs to know how Artie feels when he discovers the bus to Sectionals does not have wheelchair facilities. Matt later performs background vocals, once again in a wheelchair, for Proud Mary.

Ballad

Matt is absent because of going to the doctor due to finding a spider in his ear.

Hairography

The Glee Club are worried by Jane Addams' seemingly perfect performance. Rachel assures them that it is merely hairography, so Matt and the other guys wear wigs and are taught by Brittany to shake them around whilst singing. They perform Hair/Crazy in Love to Haverbrook School for the Deaf, who think their hairography is awful. Matt later performs background vocals in the hairography-less Imagine and True Colors.

Mattress

The Glee Club doesn't want to be part of the yearbook as the previous years' have all been defaced. Matt performs background vocals in the Mattress Land advertisement, Jump, and later in Smile whilst getting ready for the yearbook photo, which is ultimately defaced.

Sectionals

The Glee Club are worried when the rival Glee Clubs perform their songs in the competition. Earlier, Matt was shown having a brief lip reading conversation with Mercedes. They create a new set-list, and Matt performs background vocals in You Can't Always Get What You Want, Somebody to Love, and later My Life Would Suck Without You as a tribute to Mr Schuester.

Hell-O

It is shown that Matt is also part of McKinley's basketball team, along with Noah Puckerman and Finn Hudson. He performs background vocals in Gives You Hell and Hello, Goodbye.

The Power of Madonna

Mr. Schuester feels the guys haven't been treating the girls very well, and makes them perform What It Feels Like For A Girl. After welcoming (somewhat reluctantly) Jesse St. James into New Directions, they perform Like a Prayer.

Home

Matt performs background vocals in Home.

Bad Reputation

Matt is placed 8th on the Glist, and performs background vocals in Ice Ice Baby and Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Laryngitis

Matt performs background vocals in One.

Dream On

Matt dances and performs background vocals in Safety Dance at the mall, as part of Artie's dream sequence of being able to walk and dance. Matt later performs background vocals in Dream a Little Dream, while watching Mike Chang dance with Tina Cohen-Chang.

Theatricality

Matt performs background vocals in Shout It out Loud and Beth, and later defends Kurt from Azimio Adams and Dave Karofsky. Matt also speaks on screen for the first time in this episode.

Funk



Matt and the other Glee Clubbers become depressed when Vocal Adrenaline perform Another One Bites the Dust and Jesse leaves. New Directions then perform Give up the Funk to Vocal Adrenaline, who have never been able to do a funk number well, leaving them depressed.

Journey

Sue reveals she will be one of the judges at Regionals, leaving Matt and the others fearing New Directions will be disbanded. Nonetheless, they go to Regionals, where Matt performs background vocals in Journey's Faithfully, Any Way You Want It/Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin and Don't Stop Believin'. When Quinn goes into labor, New Directions rush off to the hospital, but later return to the competition to discover they have lost, and New Directions has been disbanded. Devastated, the group performs To Sir, with Love as a thank you to Will. Matt admits that before Glee, he was "just another football player." When Sue reveals she has persuaded Principal Figgins to give Glee another year, New Directions are overjoyed, and Matt celebrates with Mike whilst watching Will and Puck perform Over the Rainbow. This marks his last appearance as a New Directions member and on the show until years later in Season Six. S2= Matt has transferred to a different school by the time Season Two starts. In an effort to try and find Matt's replacement, the Glee Club reaches out to the other students where Sam Evans shows interest and eventually signs up. S3= Dance with Somebody

A picture of Matt from Season One with the rest of the New Directions Glee Club at that time is shown during My Love Is Your Love. S4= He, Lauren, and Rory are the only former members of the New Directions not to attend Will and Emma's first "wedding." S5= He is one of the few former New Directions members not to appear in The Quarterback, 100 or New Directions. S6=

The Hurt Locker, Part One

Matt's absence from the show was brought to attention by Sue throughout the episode. A picture of Matt from Season One can be seen in the "Hurt Locker". Sue has put a post-it note next to it reading, MISSING, with an arrow pointing at Matt. Later as Will confronts Sue, she mentions the neglected members of the glee club, Joe, Rory, and "the black dancer, whose name none of us remember." She then states how Matt was used to help win Sectionals and then Will ignored him into oblivion.

We Built This Glee Club

Matt appears in a flashback when New Directions members are placing the trophies they had won over the past years back in the display cases.

2009

Matt appears for the first time since Journey, but he only appears for a few seconds. He calls Mercedes when he sees her walking through the halls, but she barely pays him any attention.

Dreams Come True

Matt appears only in the last musical number of the series (I Lived), where he has a small dancing routine with Mike, reuniting them for the first time since the first season. He appears singing with all the former New Directions members, alongside Terri, Emma, Sue, Becky and Will. This marks his final appearance on the series.

Trivia

 * Matt is the only member of New Directions that never sings a solo of any form.
 * In his entire appearance, Matt has only had three lines on the show.
 * It is rumoured that Dijon Talton left the show because of Matt's lack of character development and screen time.
 * Matt and Sugar are the only former New Directions members to never appear in any Christmas episodes.
 * It is revealed in 2009 that sometime during Pilot he wasn't one of the popular jocks, implying he hadn't joined the football team prior to Preggers.

Quotes
"Yeah, and I'm dressed as the guy who replaced Artie when he quit."

"At the beginning of the year, I was just another football player."

"Matt: Hey, Mercedes.

Mercedes: Yeah. Hi."