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Whitney Mercilus
Whitney Mercilus (born July 21, 1990) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons, primarily with the Houston Texans. He played college football at Illinois, where he received unanimous All-American honors, and was selected by the Texans in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Mercilus spent the entirety of his first nine seasons with Houston, earning a second-team All-Pro selection in 2016. After being released by the Texans early into the 2021 season, he last played for the Green Bay Packers. Early years Mercilus is of Haitian descent, and was born in Akron, Ohio. He attended Garfield High School in Akron, where he played high school football for the Garfield High School Rams. He was considered a three-star defensive end prospect by the Rivals.com recruiting service. College career Mercilus attended the University of Illinois, where he played for head coach Ron Zook's Illinois Fighting Illini football team from 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home games at NRG Stadium. The Texans were founded in 1999, and were owned by Bob McNair until his death in 2018; following McNair's death, the majority ownership of the team went to his wife, Janice McNair, Janice. The team replaced the city's previous NFL franchise, the History of the Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, who played from 1960 to 1996 before moving to Nashville and eventually becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Texans began play as an expansion team in , making them the youngest franchise currently competing in the NFL. While the Texans mainly struggled in the 2000s, their fortunes would take a turn for the better in the 2010s when they first found success in the 2011 Houston Texans season, 2011 season, winning their first division ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interception
In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team but caught by a player of the team on defense, who thereby usually gains possession of the ball for their team. It is commonly seen in football, including American and Canadian football, as well as association football, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules football and Gaelic football, as well as any sport by which a loose object is passed between players toward a goal. In basketball, a pick is called a steal. American/Canadian football In American football and Canadian football, an interception occurs when a forward pass that has not yet touched the ground is caught by a player of the opposing defensive team. This leads to an immediate change of possession during the play, and the defender who caught the ball can immediately attem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NFL Scouting Combine
The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Football League coaches, general managers, and scouts. With increasing interest in the NFL Draft, the scouting combine has grown in scope and significance, allowing personnel directors to evaluate upcoming prospects in a standardized setting. Its origins stem from the National, BLESTO, and Quadra Scouting organizations in 1977. Athletes attend by invitation only. An athlete's performance during the combine can affect their draft status and salary, and ultimately their career. The draft has popularized the term "workout warrior", whereby an athlete's "draft stock" is increased based on superior measurable qualities such as size, speed, and strength, despite having an average or sub-par college career. History Tex Schramm, the president and gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarterback Sack
In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in the " pocket" and without clear intent, or when a passer runs out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage due to defensive pressure. This often occurs if the opposing team's defensive line, linebackers or defensive backs are able to apply pass pressure (also called a pass rush) to quickly get past blocking players of the offensive team (the quarterback's protection), or if the quarterback is unable to find a back to hand the ball off to or an available eligible receiver (including wide receivers, running backs and tight ends) to catch the ball, allowing the defense a longer opportunity to tackle the quarterback. Performing a sack is advantageous for the defending team as the offense loses a down, and the line of scrimmage retreats several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Zook
Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2004 and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2005 to 2011. Zook is a native of Ohio and an alumnus of Miami University, where he played college football. He has worked as an assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL) with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1996–1998), Kansas City Chiefs (1999), and New Orleans Saints (2000–2001). In August 2012, he was hired as a college football studio analyst by CBS Sports. He was also employed as the special teams coach for the Green Bay Packers. In 2019, he was the special teams coordinator and secondary coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). Early life Ronald Andrew Zook was born in Ashland, Ohio and raised in nearby Loudonville ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rivals
A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant or side a rival to the other. Someone's main rival may be called an archrival. A rivalry can be defined as "a perceptual categorizing process in which actors identify which states are sufficiently threatening competitors". In order for the rivalry to persist, rather than resulting in perpetual dominance by one side, it must be "a competitive relationship among equals". Political scientist John A. Vasquez has asserted that equality of power is a necessary component for a true rivalry to exist, but others have disputed that element. Rivalries traverse many different fields within society and "abound at all levels of human interaction", often existing between friends, firms, sports teams, schools, and universities. Moreover, "families, politi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High School Football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partly due to risk of injury, particularly concussions. According to ''The Washington Post'', between 2009 and 2019, participation in high school football declined by 9.1%. It is the basic level or step of tackle football. Rules The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) establishes the rules of high school American football in the United States. In Canada, high school is governed by Football Canada and most schools use Canadian football rules adapted for the high school game except in British Columbia, which uses the NFHS rules. Since the 2019 high school season, Texas is the only state that does not base its football rules on the NFHS rule set, instead using NCAA rules with certain exceptions shown below. Through t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper’s coverage emphasizes California and especially Southern California stories. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haitian Americans
Haitian Americans (french: Haïtiens-Américains; ht, ayisyen ameriken) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitians, Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area. In addition, they have settled in major Northeast cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and in Chicago and Detroit in the Midwestern United States, Midwest. Most are immigrants or their descendants from the mid-late 20th-century migrations to the United States. Haitian Americans represent the largest group within the Haitian diaspora. In 2018 the US Census estimated that 1,084,055 people of full or partial Haitian descent lived in the United States. During the 1960s and 1970s many Haitians emigrated to the U.S. to escape the oppressive conditions during the dictatorships of François Duvalier, François "Papa Doc" and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2012 NFL Draft
The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City from April 26 to April 28, 2012. There were 253 draft selections: 221 regular selections and 32 compensatory selections. The Indianapolis Colts, who compiled the league's worst season in with a 2–14 record, had the right to the first selection. A record 26 prospects attended the draft in person. A main story around the draft was around quarterback prospect Andrew Luck. On April 17, Indianapolis general manager Ryan Grigson announced that the team would take Luck as their first-overall pick after releasing their longtime starting quarterback Peyton Manning, saying it was "the right thing to do" in anticipation of the "media gauntlet" Luck would face in the days leading up to the draft. Luck was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system and was founded in 1867. Enrolling over 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the University of Illinois is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the country. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". In fiscal year 2019, research expenditures at Illinois totaled $652 million. The campus library system possesses the second-largest university library in the United States by holdings after Harvard University. The university also hosts the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and is home to the fastest supercomputer on a university campus. The u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
College Football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most other sports in North America, no official minor league farm organizations exist in American or Canadian football. Therefore, college football is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; one step ahead of high school competition, and one step below professional competition (the NFL). In some areas of the US, especially the South and the Midwest, college football is more popular than professional football, and for much of the 20th century college football was seen as more prestigious. A player's performance in college football directly impacts his chances of playing professional football. The best collegiate players will typically declare for the professional draft after three to four years of colleg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
