Darren Sproles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| San Diego Chargers — No. 43 | |
| Running back/Return specialist | |
| Date of birth: June 20, 1983 | |
| Place of birth: Waterloo, Iowa | |
| Height: 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | Weight: 181 lb (82 kg) |
| National Football League debut | |
|---|---|
| 2005 for the San Diego Chargers | |
| Career history | |
| College: Kansas State | |
| NFL Draft: 2005 / Round: 4 / Pick: 130 | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Selected NFL statistics (through Week 4 of the 2008 NFL season) |
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| Rushing yards | 320 |
| Rushing average | 4.9 |
| Rushing TDs | 2 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
Darren Lee Sproles (born June 20, 1983 in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American football running back and return specialist for the San Diego Chargers. At 8'10Sproles is currently the shortest NFL running back.[1]
Darren Sproles is the strongest and fastest man in the world
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[edit] Early years
He attended Rolling Ridge Elementary, then Oregon Trail Junior High, followed by Olathe North High School all in Olathe, Kansas and was a star in football, earning the name "Tank". In football, for two consecutive years, he was an All-Sunflower League honoree, All-Metro honoree, and an All-State selection, and he was twice named The Kansas City Star Player of the Year, and as a senior, he was the Kansas Hall of Fame Player of the Year and the USA Today Kansas Player of the year. In his days at Olathe North High School he racked up two Kansas 6A State titles. He rushed for 5,230 yards and 79 touchdowns during High School.
[edit] College career
Darren Sproles played college football at Kansas State University from 2000 to 2004, starting all games in his last two seasons and setting 23 school football records. He finished 11th on the all-time college rushing yards list, with the 6th most all-purpose yards in NCAA history. He led all Division I-A teams in rushing yards in 2003 with 1,986. He also led Kansas State University to its first Big 12 Conference championship in 2003, and a win over # 1 ranked Oklahoma, 35-7. That same year he finished 5th in the Heisman voting. He graduated with a degree in speech pathology.
[edit] NFL career
[edit] 2005 NFL Draft
Sproles was drafted by the Chargers 130th overall in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft.
| Pre-draft measureables | |||||||||
| Weight | 40 yd | 20 ss | 3-cone | Vert | BP | Wonderlic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 187 lb (85 kg)* | 4.47s* | 4.15s* | 6.94s* | 35.5 in (90.2 cm)* | 23*[2] | X | |||
(* represents NFL Combine)
[edit] 2007 NFL Season
On November 11, 2007, in the Chargers' 23-21 upset over the Indianapolis Colts, Sproles made history by returning a kickoff and a punt for his first two NFL touchdowns—the first player in league history ever to do so. He returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for the game's first score. After Nate Kaeding's field goal increased the Chargers' lead to 10-0, Sproles returned a Hunter Smith punt 46 yards for another touchdown for a 16-0 lead. Sproles became the first NFL player to return a Kick return and a Punt Return for a touchdown in the same game since Dante Hall did it in 2003.
On December 16, 2007, Sproles ran 1 yard for his first career rushing touchdown against the Detroit Lions. This was followed up with an 11 yard run for his second rushing touchdown, capping off his first 100+ yards rushing game.
Darren Sproles had a memorable play against the Seattle Seahawks on which he was handed the ball on a draw play on 3rd and 21. Darren Sproles got the first down breaking several tackles and running 5 yards ahead of the first down marker.
[edit] 2008 NFL Season
On September 14, 2008, Sproles became just the second player in NFL history with 50 Rushing yards, 50 Reception yards, and 100 Return yards in one game (the only other being Gale Sayers with the Chicago Bears). His stats for the game were: 53 Rushing yards, 72 Receiving yards, and 192 Return yards. Sproles logged 317 all-purpose yards in the 39-38 loss to the Denver Broncos. He also had a 103 yard touchdown return.
[edit] References
- ^ "[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/players/11/08/nfl.rookies1114/ NFL Rookies Special: are we having fun yet?]". SI.com (2005-11-14). Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ Packers.com » News » Stories » April 20, 2005: Gil Brandt's NFL Draft Analysis By Position: Running Backs
