Albert Joseph "A. J." Trapasso (born February 6, 1986) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

punter. He was signed by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2009. He played

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 ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. In addition to the Titans, Trapasso was a member of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, and

Hartford Colonials The Hartford Colonials, originally the New York Sentinels, were a professional American football team that played in the United Football League in its 2009 and 2010 seasons. A charter member of the UFL, the Sentinels began play in 2009 nominally ...

College career

Trapasso played

. He was recruited from

Pickerington High School Central Pickerington High School Central is a public high school in Pickerington, Ohio, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Pickerington Local School District. In the city of Pickerington, it is referred to simply as Central and their mas ...

after graduating in 2004. In 2006, Trapasso was awarded the

Mosi Tatupu Award Mosi or MOSI may refer to: * Mosi (given name) * Mosi (surname) * Molybdenum silicide (MoSi2), an important material in the semiconductor industry * MOSI protocol, an extension of the basic MSI cache coherency protocol * MOSI, Master Out Slave In ...

for best Special Teams Player in 2006. He finished his college career totaling 203 punt attempts for 8,317 yards in 51 games, 27 kickoffs with 10 touchbacks.

Professional career

Tennessee Titans

After going undrafted in the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, Trapasso was signed by the

as an

on April 30. In his first professional appearance during the Hall of Fame Game on August 9, 2009, Trapasso ran a fake punt 40 yards for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

. Later in the same game, he purposely ran backwards into the endzone resulting in a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

, running the clock out to win the game. On August 21, 2009, during the third quarter of a preseason game with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

at Cowboys Stadium (the first Cowboys game in the new facility), Trapasso punted a ball that struck the bottom portion of the high definition "jumbotron" scoreboard. (He had also struck the jumbotron multiple times during pregame warmups). Officials ruled a replay of the down, but Trapasso's punt created an issue of first impression with future kicks and whether raising the scoreboard would be cost prohibitive. The

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

defined a re-kick rule after Trapasso's punt, but it was never enforced until a pre-season game on August 24, 2013, when Chris Jones hit the digital board again. Trapasso was waived by the Titans during final cuts on September 4.

New York Jets

Trapasso was claimed off waivers by the

on September 6, 2009, replacing

Reggie Hodges Reginald Aaron "Reggie" Hodges (born January 26, 1982) is a former American football punter. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ball State. Hodges has been a member of t ...

as the only punter on the roster. However, the team waived Trapasso just one day later and signed punter

Steve Weatherford Steven Thomas "Steve" Weatherford (born December 17, 1982) is a former American football punter. He played college football at Illinois and was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2006. Weatherford has been a member o ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Trapasso was signed to the practice squad of the

on September 10, 2009. He was released by the team on September 14.

Tennessee Titans (second stint)

Trapasso was re-signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

on September 23, 2009 after Titans punter

Craig Hentrich Craig Hentrich (; born May 18, 1971) is a former American football punter in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He played college football for Notre Dame. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the eighth round of the 1993 NFL ...

suffered a

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

injury. He was released by the team on November 4.

Denver Broncos

Trapasso signed a future contract with the

on January 5, 2010. On June 15, 2010, Trapasso was cut by the Broncos.

References

External links

Ohio State Buckeyes bioTampa Bay Buccaneers bioTennessee Titans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trapasso, Aj 1986 births Living people People from Pickerington, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio American football punters Ohio State Buckeyes football players Tennessee Titans players New York Jets players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Denver Broncos players Hartford Colonials players