CJ Verdell (born August 16, 1999) is an

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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who is a free agent. 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 ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Early years

Verdell attended Mater Dei High School in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

. As a senior, he rushed for 2,399 yards on 262 carries with 36

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. He committed to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

to play college football.

College career

Verdell redshirted his first year at Oregon in 2017. As a Redshirt Freshman, Verdell ran the ball 202 times for 1,018 yards and 10 Touchdowns. He also caught 27 passes for 315 yards and 2 Touchdowns. He returned to Oregon as the starter in 2019 and ran 197 times for 1,220 yards and 8 Touchdowns while collecting 14 receptions for 125 yards. In the

2019 Pac-12 Football Championship Game The 2019 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was a college football game played on Friday, December 6, 2019, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, to determine the 2019 champion of the Pac-12 Conference. The game featured the North divisio ...

, he rushed for 208 yards with three touchdowns and was named the game's MVP.

Professional career

Verdell signed with the

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 ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 13, 2022. He was waived on August 23, 2022.

References

External links

Oregon Ducks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verdell, CJ 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Chula Vista, California Players of American football from San Diego County, California American football running backs Oregon Ducks football players Indianapolis Colts players