Darren Mickell (born August 3, 1970) is an American former college and professional football 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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

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 ten seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Mickell played college football 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 ...

, and thereafter, he played professionally for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

, 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 ...

, the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders of the NFL.

Early years

Mickell 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 1970.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Darren Mickell
Retrieved July 19, 2010. He attended

Miami Senior High School Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is a public high school located at 2450 SW 1st Street in Miami, Florida, and operated by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Founded in 1903, it is one of the oldest high school in Miami ...

, and played high school football for the Miami Stingarees.databaseFootball.com, Players
Darren Mickell
. Retrieved July 19, 2010.

College career

Mickell accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier's

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 o ...

teams in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and

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 Phi ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 98, 154, 184 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. Mickell was a highly regarded recruit who was signed by the Gators' previous head 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 ...

, but he did not qualify academically and was ineligible to play under the NCAA's Proposition 48 legislation during his freshman season in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. Spurrier subsequently benched him for the first five games of the 1991 season for his failure to attend classes as required. After his return to the playing field, Mickell was one of the defensive heroes in the Gators' 14–9 upset of the Florida State Seminoles in November 1991—widely regarded as one of the closest and hardest-fought games in the Florida-Florida State rivalry series. Mickell lettered in 1990 and 1991, and left school a year early, after being suspended for the 1992 season for undisclosed violations of team rules.Associated Press,
Chiefs take former Gator Mickell in draft
" ''The Gainesville Sun'', p. 1C (August 25, 1992). Retrieved July 20, 2010.

Professional career

The

selected Mickell in the second round of the 1992 NFL Supplemental Draft, and he played for the Chiefs for four seasons from to .National Football League, Historical Players
Darren Mickell
Retrieved July 19, 2010. Mickell was traded to the New Orleans Saints after the 1995 season, and was a consistent starter for the Saints from to . He signed with the San Diego Chargers a one-year deal as a free agent in ,Associated Press,
Chargers sign Chancey, Mickell
" ''Lodi News-Sentinel'', p. 14 (February 26, 2000). Retrieved July 20, 2010. and the Oakland Raiders in . In his eight NFL seasons, Mickell played in eighty-nine regular season games, started sixty-one of them, and recorded 178 tackles and eleven forced fumbles.

Life after football

Mickell is the father of four children: eldest son Darren C. Mickell, Delesha Mickell, Darreon Mickell and Anyae Mickell.

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:Mickell, Darren 1970 births Living people American football defensive ends Florida Gators football players Kansas City Chiefs players New Orleans Saints players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Miami San Diego Chargers players Miami Senior High School alumni