DeJuan R. Alfonzo (born January 12, 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 ...

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 ...

. Alfonzo attended

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

College and NFL career

Alfonzo was a first-team All-American

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 a first team All-American kick returner in 1999 with Indiana State, and a 4 time letterwinner in 1996-1999. Finished his college career with 191

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and 10

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 ...

. He set school records for most blocked kicks in a career with 5, most blocked kicks in a season with 3, and highest punt return average with 13.5 yards. Alfonzo went on to go to

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

with the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

in 2000.

Professional career

Arena Football League, 2001-2008

Alfonzo entered the AFL in 2001 with 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 ...

but spend the whole season on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. He played the 2002 season and then was released prior to the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. Alfonzo went on to sign with the

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Located immediately northwest of Chicago, as of the 2010 census it had a population of 4,20 ...

and has been with the team ever since. Alfonzo began his Rush career as a

defensive 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 t ...

, but rotated also as a WR/DB until becoming the teams WR/LB in late 2006. Alfonzo was a key figure in the teams run to

ArenaBowl XX ArenaBowl XX, held on Sunday, June 11, 2006, was played to determine the championship of the 2006 season of the Arena Football League (AFL). For the second consecutive year, the game was played at the neutral site of the Thomas & Mack Center in P ...

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 ...

. Alfonzo was named the teams Ironman of the Year, as he played wide receiver, linebacker,

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, and

held Held may refer to: Places * Held Glacier People Arts and media * Adolph Held (1885–1969), U.S. newspaper editor, banker, labor activist *Al Held (1928–2005), U.S. abstract expressionist painter. *Alexander Held (born 1958), German television ...

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

s and

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

s. He was named in the First Team All-Arena in 2006, 2007, 2008', 2009' and 2010. With the new free substitution rule added to the game in 2007, Alfonzo was regulated mainly as the team's jack linebacker, but still remained active as an Ironman, lining up as a receiver or fullback at times. Despite the reduced time on the field, Alfonzo was still a playmaker, being named by many as the best jack linebacker in the league.

CIFL career

After the AFL suspended operations for the 2009 season, Alfonzo signed with the

Chicago Slaughter The Chicago Slaughter were an American professional football team based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Having been inactive since 2013, the franchise was a part of the CIFL from 2007 to 2009, winning the championship in 2009. The Slaughter joined ...

of the

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIF ...

on February 11. Along with many other Chicago Rush players, the Slaughter finished the season undefeated at 14-0 and won the CIFL championship.

AFL 2010-2011

In 2010, Alfonzo returned to the Rush during the rebirth 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 was named the AFL's Ironman of the YearSpokane Shock prepare for weathering the Storm in ArenaBowl
/ref> and made the AFL All-Arena First Team at both Jack Linebacker and Ironman. He made 63 tackles with four interceptions, returning three for touchdowns. On offense, he caught 28 passes for 328 yards and scored six times on offense.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfonzo, DeJuan 1977 births Living people American football wide receivers American football linebackers Players of American football from Indianapolis Indiana State Sycamores football players Indiana Firebirds players Chicago Rush players Chicago Slaughter players Philadelphia Soul players