Bobby L. McCray, Jr. (born August 8, 1981) is an American former college and 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 ...

for seven seasons 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). 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 the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. He was drafted by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in the seventh round of the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 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 24–25, 2004 at the Theater at ...

, and also played for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the NFL.

Early years

McCray was born in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in 1981.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Bobby McCray
Retrieved May 6, 2011. He attended Homestead High School in Homestead, Florida,databaseFootball.com, Players
Bobby McCray
. Retrieved May 6, 2011. and he played for the Homestead Broncos high school football team.GatorZone.com, Football History, 2003 Roster

. Retrieved May 6, 2011. As a senior, McCray was named to Prep Star's All-America team despite missing half of the season with an injury. He had thirty-two tackles with seven quarterback sacks.

College career

McCray accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

and coach

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 ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

teams from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 97 & 183 (2011). Retrieved August 30, 2011. As a true freshman in 1999, he was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

by the Gators coaching staff. During the Gators'

, he played in three games. As a redshirt sophomore in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, he saw action in eight of eleven regular season games with two starts, and registered twelve tackles and seven "big plays" (2.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles-for-loss and two forced fumbles). During his

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

season, McCray played in all thirteen games, starting in five, and was a second-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) selection by ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. He recorded forty-five tackles (twenty solo), and 22.3 "big plays" (2.3 sacks, four tackles-for-loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a block). As a senior in

, he earned second-team All-SEC honors. He played in twelve games, started in eight and finished with fifty tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. In his four-season college career, McCray appeared in thirty-six games for the Gators, including fifteen starts and thirteen in the final two years. He recorded 107 tackles with 14.5 sacks, 20.5 stops for losses, thirty-one quarterback pressures, two pass deflections, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

The

selected McCray in the seventh round of the

, and he played for the Jaguars for four seasons from to .National Football League, Current Players
Bobby McCray
Retrieved May 7, 2011. As a rookie, he played in all sixteen of the Jaguars' regular season games, made seven starts and recorded 25 tackles (18 solo) and 3.5 sacks. In 2005, he played in all 16 games for the second consecutive season with one start and collected 23 tackles (20 solo) along with 5.5 sacks. In 2006, he started 12 games and totaled 49 tackles (42 solo), 10 sacks and two forced fumbles. In 2007 McCray saw action in 14 games along the Jacksonville defensive line, making nine starts, and recorded 24 tackles, three sacks, batted down three passes and forced a fumble. He also started both postseason games and notched four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble, McCray had a sack and forced a fumble on

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

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 ...

Ben Roethlisberger Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr. (; born March 2, 1982), nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college footba ...

that won the Jaguars the 2007 AFC wild card game.

New Orleans Saints

On March 2, 2008, McCray signed a five-year, $20 million contract with the

. The contract included $5 million in guaranteed money. In 2008, he played in 16 games, made eight starts and had six sacks. In 2009, McCray played in 16 games as a reserve, but he started in all three of the Saints' post-season games leading to the team's win in

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

. In the first playoff game, against

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, after Cardinals quarterback

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend fr ...

threw an interception, McCray made a hard, but legal, block that briefly put Warner out of the game; McCray's teammate

Darren Sharper Darren Mallory Sharper (born November 3, 1975) is an American convicted serial rapist and a former football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football at William & Mary and was selected ...

described McCray's play as "game-changing". The following week, McCray was fined $20,000 for illegal hits on

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

Quarterback

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

in the 2010 NFC Championship game. After a season with the New Orleans Saints McCray earned the name "Quarterback Killa." McCray along with the rest of the New Orleans Saints visited President Obama at the White house, 2010 National Football League Super Bowl champions August 9, 2010 in Washington, DC. McCray was released on June 21, 2010. He was re-signed to a one-year contract by the Saints on July 22, 2010. He was waived on September 3, 2010. McCray dedicated his 2008 season to After School All-Stars, a national organization that provides comprehensive after school programs that are fun for kids and also keep them safe and help them succeed in school and life. With every sack that Bobby accumulates, he donates $1000 to the organization. Featured in

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, McCray for volunteering at the LA Parks and Recreation Department. Also, featured in ESPN The Magazine NHL Preview Issue, October 2010, Louisiana Health & Fitness magazine, September 2009 and New Orleans Magazine

Philadelphia Eagles

McCray was signed by the

on December 30, 2010.

Post-retirement

McCray was featured in Sports and Entertainment Today for his culinary skills in the fall 2009. He was also on The Mag: Bobby McCray Jock Chef - by

with two of his teammates

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

, Mike McKenzie, and McCray's mom. McCray started Atlas Group Advisors in early 2015. Atlas is a high-profile consulting group for those whose lives are lived at a high-profile level: having a significant amount of fame, wealth, power, social status, or influence.

Filmography

McCray starred in

Man v. Food ''Man v. Food'' is an American food reality television series. It premiered on December 3, 2008 on the Travel Channel. The program was originally hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big food" o ...

Food Reality TV Series as himself in 2010. Super Bowl XLIV (2010) The AFC champion

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

and the NFC champion

meet for the championship of the

also starring

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

and

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

Additional TV/Film appearances include: The Mag: For Love or The Game Reggie Bush/Bobby McCray, The Brian McKnight Show, Rome Is Burning, Super Bowl XLIV, NFL Monday Night Football, 2004 NFL Draft, and The Central Park Five

Personal life

McCray married actress Khadijah Haqq on July 17, 2010. McCray has four children including Bobby Louis McCray III born February 2004; Christian Louis McCray born November 2010; Celine Amelia McCray February 2014; Kapri Naomi McCray born January 2021 McCray was arrested in December 2009 for driving while intoxicated. McCray accused law enforcement of filing "bogus" charges. McCray was arrested and charged with reckless driving and drug possession in October 2006.

References

External links

Bobby McCray
– Florida Gators football profile
Bobby McCray
– New Orleans Saints player profile
Bobby McCray
– Philadelphia Eagles player profile {{DEFAULTSORT:McCray, Bobby 1981 births Living people American football defensive ends American football linebackers Florida Gators football players Jacksonville Jaguars players New Orleans Saints players People from Homestead, Florida Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Miami Homestead High School (Homestead, Florida) alumni