Clinton Glenn Hart (born July 20, 1977) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

for the

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 ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, and

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

. He also was a member of the

Tallahassee Thunder The Tallahassee Thunder were an arena football team based in Tallahassee, Florida. They were inaugural members of the af2, the Arena Football League's developmental league. They played for three seasons from 2000 to 2002, when they folded. They p ...

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

Rhein Fire Rhein may refer to: Places * Rhine, a major river in Europe (german: Rhein, link=no) * Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland Ships * SM ...

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to ...

and

Omaha Nighthawks The Omaha Nighthawks were a professional American football team based in Omaha, Nebraska, which played in the United Football League, joining the league as an expansion team in 2010. During their first season, the Nighthawks played their home gam ...

of the United Football League. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at Central Florida.

Early years

Hart attended South Sumter, where he practiced football and baseball. In football, he was the team's starter at quarterback and safety. Because of his SAT low score, he didn't receive football college scholarships offers except for an interest to play college football at UCF, he turned it downed instead deciding to play

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

at Central Florida. He did not play

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 ...

. He was selected by the

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

in the 32nd round of the

2000 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins made Adrián González of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California the first overall selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. González, who was rated as ...

Professional career

Tampa Bay Storm

After spending the 2000 season with the

of the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

, Hart played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and wide receiver for 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 ...

in 2001. He finished his only season in the AFL recording three

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

and 69 tackles on

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and 24 receptions for 242 yards and touchdown on offense.

Philadelphia Eagles

After success in the AFL, the

signed Hart to a contract in 2002 and allocated him to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

, where he played for the

and

. He spent the final six weeks of the season on the Eagles

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. In 2003, Hart was able to make the roster and started 9 games at safety due to an injury to starter

Brian Dawkins Brian Patrick Dawkins Sr. (born October 13, 1973) is an American former football safety who played 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Clemson and was drafted b ...

. On September 14, 2004, the Eagles waived him.

San Diego Chargers

On September 15, 2004, Hart was claimed off waivers by the

. Hart played in 14 games for the Chargers in 2004 and was tied with

Hanik Milligan Hanik Alphonse Milligan (born November 3, 1979) is a former American football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons. He played college football at Houston. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the sixt ...

for the team lead with in special teams tackles with 15. In 2005, Hart started 5 of 16 games and recorded 45 tackles and an interception. He also scored two

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 ...

on an interception return and an interception by

Donnie Edwards Donnie Edwards (born April 6, 1973) is a former American football linebacker from San Diego, California. He played for thirteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers. He began his ca ...

who lateralled to him for the score. In 2006, he started one of 16 games, recording 48 tackles and three interceptions. In 2007, Hart became the Chargers full-time starter at strong safety, starting all 16 games. He finished the season recording a career-high five interceptions and 85 tackles. On April 7, 2008, the Chargers signed Hart to a five-year extension through 2012. During the 2008 season, he remained the Chargers starter at strong safety, starting in all 14 games he played. He finished the season with 63 tackles and 0 interceptions. Hart was cut from the Chargers on October 14, 2009.

St. Louis Rams

Hart was signed by the

on December 8, 2009. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Personal life

On April 28, 2010, it was reported he was arrested for the battery of his wife after she discovered a female chatting with him on Facebook. He denied the charges. In 2017, Hart took the position of Defensive Coordinator at Ocala Christian Academy in Ocala, Florida. His younger brother,

Keanu Neal Keanu Neal (born July 26, 1995) is an American football safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 17th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college footbal ...

, played college football at

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 ...

as a safety and was a 2016 NFL draft prospect selected #17 overall by the Atlanta Falcons.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Clinton 1977 births Living people People from Dade City, Florida Baseball players from Florida Players of American football from Florida American football safeties Tampa Bay Storm players Amsterdam Admirals players Philadelphia Eagles players San Diego Chargers players St. Louis Rams players Omaha Nighthawks players College of Central Florida Patriots baseball players