David Saunders (born January 31, 1976), is a former

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

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played collegiate football for

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. In his career, Saunders played for the

New Jersey Red Dogs The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

New Jersey Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Ca ...

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena. ...

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fold ...

and

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 ...

High school career

Saunders began playing

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 ...

his freshman year. He was a first-team All-State pick in the Illinois big school division by every publication in the state at

Palatine High School Palatine High School, or PHS, is a public four-year high school in Township High School District 211. Located at 1111 N. Rohlwing Road in Palatine, Illinois, United States, a northwest suburb of Chicago, it serves primarily all of and only those ...

. He caught 51 passes for 768 yards as a senior & had 108 receptions for 1,807 yards with 28 touchdowns during his career. David also 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 punter. He also played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and ran

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

College career

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, as a freshman at

, Saunders

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

and played on the

scout team The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see ''Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, as a

redshirt freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

, Saunders earned the starting role at flanker. He ended the season as the team's leading receiver with 38 catches for 682 yards and five touchdowns, setting a school-record for freshman receiving yards and touchdowns. He began his career against

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, where he had 130 yards from six receptions. He scored his first career touchdown against

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

on a 50-yard reception, finishing the game with five receptions for 99 yards. He also recorded 149 yards against

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

, 94 yards against

Miami 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 ...

, and 80 yards against Pitt to end the season in the

Backyard Brawl The Backyard Brawl is an American college football rivalry between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. The term "Backyard Brawl" has also been used to refer to college basketball games played ann ...

. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

season, his sophomore season, Saunders finished the year as a First-team All-

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

selection. He led the conference with an average of 83 yards receiving and 6.1 receptions-per-game. He started every game of the season as a flanker, leading the team with 76 receptions for 1,043 yards and five touchdowns, becoming the first player in school history to gain over 1,000 yards receiving in a season. Against East Carolina, he recorded eight receptions for 105 yards, followed by 191 yards and one touchdown against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, which ranks third on the school's receiving yards in a single game list. He gained 113 yards against

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, followed by 178 yards against Rutgers and 130 yards against

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in the

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 ...

, which earned him

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

honors. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, his junior year, Saunders did not play, but returned for his senior season. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, he earned Second-team All-Big East and First-team All- ECAC honors. He also led the team with 77 receptions for 883 yards and eight touchdowns while starting all the games at a new position, split end. His 77 receptions is tied for the school record, set the previous year by

Shawn Foreman Shawn Foreman (born June 3, 1975) is a former American football Wide receiver. He played college football at West Virginia. In his career, Foreman has played for the New York Jets, the Oklahoma Wranglers, the Indiana Firebirds, and the Grand ...

, while his eight touchdowns rank third most ever in a season in school history. Saunders recorded five receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns against

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, and then tied a school-record of 12 receptions against Miami. He then had 110 yards and a game-winning touchdown reception with three minutes left in the 35-28 win over Syracuse. In the

Insight.com Bowl The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...

against

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, Saunders ended his career with eights receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Saunders is considered one of the greatest receivers in

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Moun ...

history. He currently has the record for most career receiving yards with 2,608 yards. He also has the record for most career receptions with 191.

Professional career

New Jersey Red Dogs (2000)

After leaving

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, Saunders was away from football for a year. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, Saunders moved into 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 ...

and was signed by the

. He played in 12 games as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

, catching 60 passes for 727 yards and 20 touchdowns. 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 ...

, Saunders had 24 tackles and two interceptions, two that he returned for touchdowns. His best performance, of the season, came in Week 14 against the

Carolina Cobras The Carolina Cobras were an expansion franchise in the Arena Football League. The team was formed prior to the 2000 season, which endured a player strike. The team was originally based in Raleigh, North Carolina, but moved to Charlotte followin ...

, when he caught 10 receptions for three touchdowns and also added five tackles.

New Jersey Gladiators (2001 - 2001)

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, Saunders left the Red Dogs the next season, and was signed by the

. While playing for the Gladiators, he spent most of the season as an

offensive specialist In arena football, a specialist was a player, other than a quarterback or placekicker, who was exempt from the league's one-platoon system ("Iron Man"). Under the original Arena football system, six of the eight players on each team were required ...

. He ended the season with 55 catches for 760 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Tampa Bay Storm (2002 - 2005)

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Saunders was signed by the

. That season, he was named the Team

while leading the team in touchdowns, was second on the team in receptions, receiving yards and scoring, and was tied for fifth on the team with tackles while only playing in nine games. Saunders led the Storm in receiving in their two playoff games with a total of 10 passes for 156 yards and four touchdowns. He ended the season with 53 receptions for 610 yards and 14 touchdowns. On defense Saunders finished with 18.5 tackles. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, he returned to the Storm for a second season. In his second season with Tampa, he played in 11 games and recorded 38 receptions for 440 yards and 11 touchdowns after missing the first four games due to an injury. He finished as the Storm's fourth leading receiver. His best performance of the season came against the

Indiana Firebirds The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana ...

, when he caught six passes for 60 yards and three touchdowns while also broke up a pass on defense. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Saunders again played in 11 games for the Storm. He finished the season with 41 receptions for 484 yards and nine touchdowns while recording 17 tackles on defense. Although he missed a month due to a

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

injury, he was fourth on the team in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Saunders only played the first six games of the season. He finished the season with 29 receptions for 309 yards and five touchdowns. He also recorded 8.5 tackles and an interception on defense.

Grand Rapids Rampage (2005)

During the 2005 season, Saunders was traded to the

and played in five more games. He finished his time in Grand Rapids with 15 receptions for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

Columbus (2006 - 2007)

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Saunders joined the

. He became a prominent receiver for the Destroyers, catching a touchdown pass in 10 straight games that season. That season, he set career-highs with 837 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns. He was also played well on defense, with 24 tackles on the season. His best game receiving came against the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

, when he recorded seven receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns. In that game, he also recorded a solo tackle, an assisted tackle, and two recovered fumbles. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Saunders also had another solid season for the Destroyers. Playing in eleven games as a two-way starter (missing five weeks due to a broken bone in his back), he ended the season with 68 receptions for 550 yards for 18 touchdowns. He also had a 19-game touchdown streak going, until it was ended against the

Kansas City Brigade Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

. He was second on the team in receptions, yards, touchdowns, and scoring. With 11 tackles on defense, Saunders ranked 12th on his team. Against the

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Je ...

, he led the Destroyers' receivers with seven receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown. The Destroyers lost in

ArenaBowl XXI ArenaBowl XXI was the 2007 championship game of the Arena Football League and was played at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday, July 29, 2007. It was the third-ever neutral site title game in league's history and the first ...

against the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

on July 29, 55-33, with Saunders recording three receptions for 21 yards and a touchdown.

Return to Tampa Bay (2008)

After the

loss with the Destroyers, Saunders returned to the Storm for the 2008 season. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Saunders' first game of the season was the week five game against the Soul, in which he recorded two receptions for 13 yards and one touchdown, he also recorded one tackle. During week six against the Destroyers, he recorded six receptions for 90 yards and three touchdowns, and 1.5 tackles, one tackle for loss. In the week seven game against the Arizona Rattlers, he recorded three receptions for 26 yards. During the week eight game against the New York Dragons, he recorded one reception for a three-yard touchdown.

Arizona Rattlers (2008)

On April 22, 2008, Saunders, along with Khalid Naziruddin and Bryant Tisdale where released by the Storm while they traded for fullback /

Phil Glover. On April 29, 2008 Saunders was signed by the Arizona Rattlers. In his first career game with the Rattlers, a loss to the

, Saunders recorded four receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. He finished the season with 16 receptions for 179 yards averaging 11.6 yards-per-reception, and six touchdowns. On May 20, 2008, he was released by the Rattlers.azrattlers.com: Player Transactions 05/2008
/ref>

Career statistics

References

2008 Tampa Bay Storm schedule

2008 Arizona Rattlers schedule

Notes

External links

Profile at ArenaFan.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, David 1976 births Living people Players of American football from Toledo, Ohio Players of American football from Tampa, Florida People from Palatine, Illinois American football wide receivers West Virginia Mountaineers football players New Jersey Red Dogs players New Jersey Gladiators players Tampa Bay Storm players Arizona Rattlers players Columbus Destroyers players