Colt Keliikoa Lyerla (born November 13, 1992) is a former American

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

wide receiver and convicted felon. He played

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

at 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 ...

for the

Ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

but left in October 2013 due to personal reasons. He signed with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

after going undrafted during the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

. He was a member of the Arizona Rattlers and

Portland Steel The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Ang ...

of 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 ...

. He also played for

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Elite One Championship and a ...

in the

Elite One Championship Elite 1 is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions wor ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

Early life

Lyerla was born in

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, ...

, on November 13, 1992, to Roger and Tammy Lyerla, with the family later moving to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and then

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

. His parents divorced in 2001, and he moved to

Gladstone, Oregon Gladstone is a city located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 11,491 at the 2010 census. Gladstone is an approximately suburban community, south of Portland, the largest city in Oregon, and located at the confluen ...

, before moving back to Hillsboro in 2003. In Hillsboro, he attended Hillsboro High School, where he played both football and basketball for the Spartans. On the football team he played both ways as a running back on offense and linebacker on defense, winning a state championship in 2009. That season, he was named as ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

's'' top offensive player at the 5A classification after he ran for 1,543 yards with 26 touchdowns, along with 843 yards and 13 touchdowns receiving as a junior. During the 2009 season he caught a 61-yard

Hail Mary pass A Hail Mary pass is a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation, with an exceptionally small chance of achieving a completion. Due to the difficulty of a completion with this pass, it makes reference to the Catho ...

at the end of the game against rival Glencoe High School to win the game; the play made ESPN's ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

'' as the play of the week. The next year as a senior, he rushed for 1,519 yards on 133 carries and was selected as a first-team all-state selection by ''

'' as a running back, and second-team as a linebacker. Lyerla was recruited by teams such as the

Southern California Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

, the California Bears, the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

, the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

, the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

, and the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, but committed to the University of Oregon while at the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Lyerla had garnered recruiting attention prior to his junior year after performing well during summer recruiting camps, and had offers from over 30 schools before making his commitment.

College years

Lyerla graduated early from high school and enrolled at Oregon in the spring of 2011 so he could take part in spring practices. During the team's spring game he had three catches for 37 yards while playing tight end. As a true freshman for the 2011 season, he played tight end and caught 7 passes for 147 yards and 5 touchdowns. For the 2012 season, Lyerla earned the starting tight end position, and part-way into the season also saw playing time at the running back position. Lyerla finished the season with 25 receptions for 392 yards and 6 touchdowns, and also rushed for 77 yards and 1 touchdown. During the 2013 season Lyerla missed a game against Tennessee and was then suspended for the game against Colorado before quitting the team on October 6, 2013. He ended the season with 3 runs for 17 yards, including a touchdown, and 2 receptions for 26 yards in two games.

Professional career

National Football League

Lyerla went undrafted in the

. He was signed by the

on May 19, 2014 as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. On August 2, 2014 at the Packers annual Family Night practice Lyerla tore the

posterior cruciate ligament The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the medial cond ...

and

medial collateral ligament The medial collateral ligament (MCL), or tibial collateral ligament (TCL), is one of the four major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint in humans and other primates. Its primary function is to resist out ...

in his right knee when trying to hurdle a defender during a non-contact practice. Initially placed on the Packers injured reserve list, Lyerla was waived with an injury settlement on August 26, 2014 that paid him through Week 8 of the season.

Arena Football League

On November 5, 2015, Lyerla signed with the Arizona Rattlers of the

for the 2016 Arena Football League season. On March 11, 2016, Lyerla was traded to the

for Jordan Mudge.

Controversies

In March 2013, Lyerla

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in support of a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that the

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...

was part of a government conspiracy to advance

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

policies. The tweet was denounced by the University of Oregon as "insensitive and offensive." Lyerla later apologized. After leaving the Oregon Ducks during the 2013 season, Lyerla was arrested and later pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

. Lyerla was arrested on Saturday September 6, 2014, at 2:52 a.m. for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

(DUI). The DUI was for impairment not related to alcohol. On August 28, 2016, Lyerla was arrested in Tigard, Oregon, for possession of heroin. He pleaded guilty to first- and second-degree

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...

, and was sentenced to six months in prison. Lyerla escaped custody on May 5, 2017. Lyerla was sentenced on November 19, 2019 to 27 months in the

Oregon State Penitentiary Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), sometimes called Oregon State Prison, is a supermax, maximum security prison in the Northwestern United States, northwest United States in Salem, Oregon, Salem, Oregon. Originally opened in Portland, Oregon, Portl ...

after pleading guilty to charges of coercion, fourth-degree assault, unlawful possession of heroin and strangulation in Lane County Circuit Court.https://www.registerguard.com/news/20191119/former-oregon-ducks-football-player-sentenced-to-more-than-2-years-in-prison , publisher=The Register Guard , accessdate=November 19, 2019

References

External links

Oregon Ducks football bio

Rivals.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyerla, Colt 1992 births AS Carcassonne players Living people American rugby league players Sportspeople from Hillsboro, Oregon American football running backs American football tight ends Oregon Ducks football players Players of American football from Oregon Arizona Rattlers players Hillsboro High School (Oregon) alumni Portland Steel players Sportspeople from Vancouver, Washington Green Bay Packers players Footballers who switched code