Aaron Garcia (born October 28, 1970) is a former professional

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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who played 19 seasons in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL), from 1995 to 2014. 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 ...

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

before transferring to California State University, Sacramento. After retiring from the AFL, Garcia was named the head coach of the Las Vegas Outlaws in September 2014, and was formally introduced as the head coach of the Outlaws on October 11, 2014. Garcia is married to Bryn Garcia and has five children, Gigi, Bella, Anthony, Christian, and Jaxon. Born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, Garcia attended high school in Sacramento at Grant Union High School. After graduation from high school in 1988, Garcia enrolled at

and played quarterback for the Cougars, starting for two seasons. He transferred to California State University, Sacramento in 1992, where he started for two seasons. After going undrafted in the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

, Garcia was encouraged to try playing in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) or the AFL to gain more scouting exposure for an opportunity at the

National Football League 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 ...

(NFL). He signed with the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

and became their starting quarterback in 1995. In his career, Garcia has also played for the

Connecticut Coyotes The Connecticut Coyotes were an arena football franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Coyotes played in the Eastern Division of the National Conference in the Arena Football League. History On June 22, 1994, the Arena Football League aw ...

, New Jersey Red Dogs,

Iowa Barnstormers The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines, Iowa) ...

, New York Dragons, Jacksonville Sharks, San Antonio Talons, San Jose SaberCats

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

and Los Angeles KISS. Garcia would go on to set AFL records for passing yards, passing touchdowns and interceptions during his 19-year career, winning

ArenaBowl XXIV ArenaBowl XXIV was the 24th edition of the championship in the Arena Football League (AFL). The American Conference champion, Jacksonville Sharks, defeated the National Conference champion, Arizona Rattlers, 73–70. It was played on August 12, 2 ...

while a member of the Sharks. Garcia was also a two-time

Arena Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award The Arena Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award is given annually by the Arena Football League (AFL) to the offensive player of the AFL believed to have had the most outstanding season. Multiple-award winners include Eddie Brown, Aa ...

recipient, in 2001 and 2011.

High school career

Garcia attended Grant Union High School where he played

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, part ...

, and basketball with his father as

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, where he broke

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American professional football executive and former quarterback who is the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Elway played college f ...

’s California state high school passing, yardage and touchdown records with a two-year prep total of 5,800 yards and 57 touchdown passes.

College career

Garcia went to

in 1988, and started as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

freshman in 1989, contributing 1,591 yards and 11 touchdown passes, leading the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

in passing efficiency that year. During that year, quarterbacking duties also were shared by junior Brad Gossen, who threw for 1,372 yards and nine touchdowns in an injury shortened season, prior to Garcia being named the starter. In 1990, a mid-season quarterback controversy erupted when second-year coach

Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2004 ...

benched veterans Gossen and Garcia in favor of true-freshman Drew Bledsoe. After Bledsoe's emergence at Washington State in 1990, Garcia transferred to

Sacramento State California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

and finished his

career as the starter there, throwing for 1,796 yards and 13 touchdowns in his senior season.

College career statistics

Professional career

Arizona Rattlers

Following his college career, Garcia turned to Arena Football. He played for the

in 1995.

Connecticut Coyotes

Garcia was traded to the

during the 1996 season.

New Jersey Red Dogs

Garcia would change teams again in 1997, playing for the New Jersey Red Dogs.

Iowa Barnstomers/New York Dragons

Garcia played for the Red Dogs for a year and a half before joining the

during the 1998 season. Garcia finally settled down in Iowa, and found his greatest success when the Barnstormers became the New York Dragons in 2001. In the 2001 season, Garcia threw a league record 104 touchdown passes, but this was passed by Clint Dolezel in 2006.

San Francisco 49ers

Garcia briefly left the AFL in 2002, when he was signed by 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 ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. He was released after minicamp in June and returned to the Dragons, who finished 3–11 that year.

Return to the Dragons

On February 26, 2006, Garcia suffered a fractured

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

, ending his season. He was replaced by Juston Wood and later Nick Browder. At the time of the injury, Garcia had thrown more touchdown passes than any pro quarterback, however, Andy Kelly and Clint Dolezel moved ahead of Garcia while he was injured. On June 2, 2007, Garcia became the fourth quarterback in AFL history to throw 800 touchdowns, joining Dolezel,

Sherdrick Bonner Sherdrick Deon "Sed" Bonner (born October 19, 1968) is a former American football quarterback who played fifteen seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL). High school years Bonner attended Azusa High School in Azusa, California and was a stude ...

, and Kelly. In 2008, Garcia led the Dragons to the playoffs despite finishing the season with an 8-8 record. In the first round playoff game, Garcia and the Dragons defeated a heavily favored Dallas Desperados team who finished the year at 12-4. Garcia and Dolezel squared off at quarterback against each other, and Garcia out dueled Dolezel throwing nine touchdown passes to Dolezel's seven. The following week, New York lost on the final play of the game to the Philadelphia Soul, who would go on to win ArenaBowl XXII.

Jacksonville Sharks

The

suspended operations in 2009. On January 21, 2010, Garcia signed with the expansion Jacksonville Sharks when the

reformed in 2010. On May 1, 2010, Garcia threw his 900th touchdown pass to Sale' Key in a 62-60 win over the

Tulsa Talons Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. On June 5, 2010, Garcia became the all-time leader in passing touchdowns in Arena Football history, with 932 touchdown passes thrown. On April 30, 2011, Garcia connected with Jeron Harvey for his 1,000th career touchdown pass. Jacksonville Sharks went on to beat in-state rival

76-55. On July 22, 2011, Garcia became the first AFL quarterback to cross the 50,000 yard milestone in a 75-56 victory over the Spokane Shock. On August 12, 2011, with two seconds remaining in the 4th quarter, Garcia threw the winning touchdown pass as time expired in

to win his first Arena Bowl title for the Jacksonville Sharks.

San Antonio Talons

On September 27, 2011, Garcia was officially announced as the first player to sign with the relocated San Antonio Talons franchise. On March 29, 2012, Garcia was strip sacked on the six yard line but was able to recover the ball and go into the end zone for a fumble recovery score in a 47-34 road victory over the Orlando Predators. Garcia lead the Talons to a 14-4 record, and a Central Division Championship. With the top seed in the National Conference, the Talons were upset 35-34 by the

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division (AFL), West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did ...

after Garcia was sacked on 4th and goal with 2:50 remaining in the game. After the 2012 season, the Talons offered a contract to Garcia, but Garcia decided to sign elsewhere.

San Jose SaberCats

On November 8, 2012, Garcia signed with the San Jose Sabercats. On April 22, 2013, after a slow start to the 2013 season (98 for 159, 24 TD's and 13 INT's) the SaberCats announced that they have been assigned former Chicago Rush quarterback

Russ Michna Russell Walter Michna (born February 3, 1981) is a former arena football quarterback. A two-time league champion of the United Football League (UFL), he is the only player that has been signed to a team in every current major professional footb ...

on a two-year contract. The SaberCats then placed Garcia on recallable reassignment to make room on the 24-man roster.

Orlando Predators

On April 25, 2013, Garcia was traded, along with Devin Clark, to the

in exchange for Amarri Jackson.

Return to Jacksonville

On February 8, 2014, Garcia was traded back to Jacksonville for

Bernard Morris Bernard Raphael Morris (born May 29, 1985) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He was signed as a street free agent by the Arkansas Twisters in 2009. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd. Early years ...

Matt Marcorelle Matthew Marcorelle (born July 26, 1987) is a former American football defensive end. He was signed by the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He played college football at University of Delaware The University of Delaware ...

and

Trevis Turner Trevis Turner (born May 2, 1987) is an American football offensive lineman who is currently a free agent. He played college football for Abilene Christian University. College career Turner originally signed with Colorado State University out o ...

. Garcia started one game for the Sharks, while refusing to report for most of the season.

Los Angeles KISS

On May 12, 2014, Garcia was traded to the Los Angeles KISS for

J. J. Raterink Jason J. Raterink (born August 4, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current Quarterbacks Coach at the University of Northern Colorado. He played college football at Wyoming. He went undrafted during the 2005 ...

Career statistics

Coaching career

Garcia was named head coach of the Las Vegas Outlaws of the AFL in September 2014. The Outlaws folded in August 2015.

Coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Aaron 1970 births Living people Players of American football from Sacramento, California American football quarterbacks Washington State Cougars football players Sacramento State Hornets football players Arizona Rattlers players Connecticut Coyotes players New Jersey Red Dogs players Iowa Barnstormers players New York Dragons players San Francisco 49ers players Jacksonville Sharks players San Antonio Talons players San Jose SaberCats players Orlando Predators players Los Angeles Kiss players Arena Football League coaches American sportspeople of Mexican descent Orlando Rage players Los Angeles Kiss coaches