William Swancutt (born September 4, 1982) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

in 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) for three seasons. 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 ...

for

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

, and was recognized as the conference player of the year. He was chosen by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in the sixth round of the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 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 NFL draft, draft was held April 23–24, 2005 NFL seaso ...

Early years

He was born in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river ...

, and attended

Sprague High School Charles A. Sprague High School, known as Sprague High School, is a high school in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Salem, Oregon, United States. The school is named after Charles A. Sprague, who served as Oregon's governor from 1939 to 1943. Acad ...

in Salem. He was recognised as a

Super Prep ''Super Prep'' is a sports magazine based in Laguna Beach, California, published in since 1985. It was founded and is published by Allen Wallace, a lawyer. Its main focus is to provide recruiting information on high school football players. In 19 ...

All-American in 2000 and a

Tacoma News-Tribune ''The News Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tacoma, Washington. It is the second-largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington with a weekday circulation of 30,945 in 2020. With origins dating back to 1883, the newspaper w ...

Northwest Nugget. Swancutt was awarded the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the Valley League twice and earned class 4A's defensive player of the year. He also played a number of other sports while at the school including; basketball and baseball.

College career

Swancutt received an athletic scholarship to attend

, where he played for the

Oregon State Beavers football The Oregon State Beavers football team represents Oregon State University in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The team first fielded an organized football team in 1893 and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Jonathan Smith has been the he ...

team from 2001 to 2004. He was named

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

co-defensive player of the year in 2004. He was also the 2004 recipient of the

Morris Trophy Coaches of the Pac-12 Conference bestow the following awards at the end of each football season. The conference was founded in its current form as the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1959, but traces its roots to the Pacific Coast Co ...

, recognizing him as the outstanding defensive lineman in the Pac-10 and won the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

defensive MVP honors. Swancutt beat current OSU records with 37 sacks and 60 stops behind the

line of scrimmage In gridiron football, a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line (across the width of the field) beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun. Its location is based on the spot where the ball is placed after the end o ...

(previous records held by

Inoke Breckterfield Inoke Breckterfield e-NO-kay(born April 25, 1977) is an American football coach who is currently the defensive line coach at the University of Washington. He played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Toronto Argonauts (1999–2000) an ...

) during his time at the university.

Professional career

Swancutt was selected by the

in the sixth round, 184th overall pick, of the

. He signed with the Lions on July 15, 2005. He played his first NFL game against

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

in October 2005. He played in eight of the Lions' sixteen games primarily in the kickoff and kickoff return teams. He was released in July 2007 following a knee injury which occurred during training camp in 2006. Swancutt was signed by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

on July 27, 2007. He was released by the Raiders on August 1, 2007. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens on August 6, 2007. He was released by the Ravens on September 1, 2007.

Personal life

While at the university, Swancutt graduated with a 3.11 grade-point average and a bachelor's degree in

business finance Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allo ...

. He currently works as a financial advisor for

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

. During his time with the Detroit Lions he shared an apartment with

Dan Orlovsky Daniel John Orlovsky (born August 18, 1983) is an American football analyst for ESPN and former American football quarterback who was active for twelve seasons in the NFL. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL ...

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

. He now lives in

with his wife, Abby and daughter, Cameron and son Bill Jr.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swancutt, Bill Living people 1982 births Businesspeople from Oregon Players of American football from Oregon American football defensive ends Oregon State Beavers football players Detroit Lions players Sportspeople from Salem, Oregon