John Broward "Brad" Culpepper (born May 8, 1969) 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 tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

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 nine seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Culpepper was as an All-American when 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

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

. Selected late in the tenth round of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 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 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott Mar ...

, he became a consistent starter for the

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. Culpepper is also known for appearing on two seasons of the U.S. reality television show '' Survivor'', appearing on '' Survivor: Blood vs. Water'' and '' Survivor: Game Changers''.

Early life

Culpepper was born in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

in 1969.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Brad Culpepper
Retrieved July 2, 2010. He attended

Leon High School Leon High School is a public high school in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is the oldest public high school in the state, and is a part of the Leon County Schools System. History Leon High School is one of the oldest high schools in th ...

in Tallahassee, where he was a standout prep player for the Leon Lions

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 ...

team. Culpepper was born into a family of

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 ...

alumni.Jack Hairston, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois, pp. 29–31 (2002). His father, Bruce Culpepper, was a center for the Gators football team from 1960 to 1962 and co-captain of their 1962

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

team, and became a prominent Tallahassee attorney. His uncle, Blair Culpepper, was a Gators fullback in 1957 and 1958, and became a bank president in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...

. His grandfather, J. Broward Culpepper, was also a Florida graduate and served as the chancellor of the State University System of Florida.

College career

Culpepper accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Galen Hall Galen Samuel Hall (born August 14, 1940) is a retired American college and professional football coach and player. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and an alumnus of Penn State University, where he played college football. Hall was previously t ...

and 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 ...

's Gators teams from

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 88, 93, 97, 98, 100, 124, 153, 180 (2011). Retrieved August 28, 2011. During his senior season in 1991, Culpepper was a standout

and team captain on the Gators'

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) championship team, a first-team All-SEC selection and a consensus first-team All-American. He finished his college career with eighteen

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 th ...

s and 47.5 tackles for a loss. He was also named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years, was a first-team

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

n, and received the

Draddy Trophy The William V. Campbell, formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, is awarded by the National Football Foundation to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance. It is ...

recognizing him as college football's most outstanding student-athlete. While Culpepper was a Florida undergraduate, he was also an active member of

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

Fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

( Gamma Theta Chapter). Culpepper graduated from Florida with his bachelor's degree in history after his junior year, and enrolled in a master's degree program in exercise and sports sciences during his senior football season. After finishing his professional playing career, Culpepper returned to graduate school and law school full-time, and earned his master's degree and J.D. degree from Florida in 2001. He was inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence ...

as a "Gator Great" in 2001. The sports editors of ''

The Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the edi ...

'' ranked him as the No. 47 all-time greatest player of the first 100 seasons of the Florida Gators football team in 2006.

Professional career

Culpepper was a tenth round selection (264th overall pick) in the

by the Minnesota Vikings, and he played for the Vikings from to , the

from to , and the

in . In his nine-year professional career, Culpepper played in 131 games, started 83 of them, and recorded 34

s and one

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 ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
Brad Culpepper
Retrieved May 13, 2010.

Life after football

Culpepper is now a trial lawyer for the Culpepper Kurland law firm in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. Since his retirement, he has spoken out about his concerns regarding the increasing size of NFL players; he believes that the increasing number of players is "unnatural and unsafe" and has led to many serious health problems. During his football career, Culpepper inflated his weight to ; after he retired from professional football, he lost almost .

''Survivor''

''Blood vs. Water''

Prior to his appearances, Culpepper's wife Monica was selected as a participant for the 24th season of the CBS reality television show '' Survivor''. Monica and Brad participated together in the show's 27th season, '' Survivor: Blood vs. Water''. Culpepper was the sixth person eliminated from the game and came in 15th place while Monica was the season's runner-up. On May 6, 2015, it was revealed that Culpepper was one of 16 former male players eligible to be voted onto ''Survivor'''s 31st season, '' Survivor: Cambodia''. However, he was not voted onto it.

''Game Changers''

On February 8, 2017, Culpepper was revealed to be one of the contestants competing in '' Survivor: Game Changers'', the show's 34th season, which began airing in March 2017. Throughout Culpepper's second season, he played relatively consistently, and stayed loyal to his alliances, despite being in the minority for the most part. However, at his endgame, he won five individual immunity challenges; a feat shared only by a few other elite Survivor players, which propelled him to the Final Three with

Sarah Lacina Sarah Lacina (born July 9, 1984) is an American police officer best known for competing on the American reality show '' Survivor''. She came in 11th place and was the first jury member in the show's 28th season, '' Survivor: Cagayan'', in 2014. ...

and "Troyzan" Robertson. Although Culpepper played a solid social game and was a prominent threat, he became very arrogant and made some remarks toward fellow tribe mate Tai Trang that other players perceived as condescending in the last few days. Fellow tribemate Aubry Bracco in her jury speaks video controversially said she had hesitations about voting for Brad to win because of his "racist and sexist tendencies". At the Final Tribal Council, Lacina's skillful strategic and social gameplay was preferred by the jury over Culpepper's physical dominance, and she was awarded the title of "Sole Survivor" in a 7–3–0 vote. Culpepper received three votes, making him the runner-up.

Personal life

In 1990, Culpepper met Monica Frakes when he was a sophomore at the University of Florida. The couple married weeks after Culpepper was drafted into the NFL in 1992. The couple have three children together. Their oldest son, Rex, was a quarterback at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, and their other son, Judge, is a defensive lineman at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

. He and his wife, Monica, are the only ''Survivor'' couple to both be runners-up in separate seasons. Coincidentally, they both achieved this feat in their second time playing the game, Monica in ''Survivor: Blood vs. Water'' and Brad in ''Survivor: Game Changers''. This is similar to another ''Survivor'' couple,

Rob Mariano Robert Carlo Mariano (born December 25, 1975), known by the nickname Boston Rob, is an American television personality, known for appearing in the CBS reality show '' Survivor''. He placed 10th in the show's 4th season '' Survivor: Marquesas'' ...

and Amber Brkich, who are the only couple to both have won ''Survivor'', Amber in ''Survivor: All-Stars'' and Rob in ''Survivor: Redemption Island.'' Survivor: Redemption Island

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Culpepper, Brad 1969 births All-American college football players American football defensive tackles Chicago Bears players Florida Gators football players Florida lawyers Living people Minnesota Vikings players Players of American football from Tallahassee, Florida Survivor (American TV series) contestants Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni William V. Campbell Trophy winners Leon High School alumni