DeMarcus Granger (born September 4, 1986) 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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

. After a heralded high school career, Granger's NFL prospects faded after an injury-plagued career at

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. He was not selected in the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

Early years

During his high school career, Granger was a standout defensive player at Kimball High School in the Dallas neighborhood of

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods. Oak Cl ...

. He was named ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' Defensive Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004 and The Dallas Area Defensive Player of the Year as a junior. For his junior season, he recorded 68 tackles and 17 sacks. As a senior, he totaled 79 tackles, including 25 for loss, and 17 sacks and also forced 11 fumbles. A consensus five-star recruit, Granger was ranked No. 1 among defensive tackles in the class of 2005, which also included

Jerrell Powe Jerrell Quartez Powe (born March 15, 1987) is a former American football nose tackle. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football for Ole Miss. High school career Powe attended ...

Ndamukong Suh Ndamukong Ngwa Suh ( , born January 6, 1987) is an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Nebraska, where he earned All-American honors, and was drafte ...

, Dan Williams, and

Tyson Alualu Tyson Asi Alualu ( ; born May 12, 1987) is an American football nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college ...

. Recruited by dozens of schools, he took official visits to

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

, and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He committed to the Sooners on January 30, 2005.

College career

After redshirting his initial year in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, Granger worked his way into the defensive lineman rotation as a redshirt freshman. As a sophomore, he played in 13 games and ranked third on the team with 8.5 tackles for loss, earning All-Big 12 second-team by the coaches and Rivals and honorable mention by the Associated Press. He was, however, suspended from the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

after being arrested for shoplifting in the

Arizona Mills Arizona Mills is an outlet shopping mall in Tempe, Arizona within the Phoenix metropolitan area and it is one of the tourist destinations in Phoenix, Arizona and it was owned by the Mills Corporation (which owned 25%) and Taubman Centers. However ...

mall in

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

, five days before the game. In his junior season, Granger played in 11 games, missing two because of a foot injury suffered against

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and also the

BCS championship game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

against

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

due to a back surgery. Recovering from this surgery, Granger missed all of the 2009 regular season, returning only to play the

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

versus

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Professional career

On April 24, 2010, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks, but was waived on May 27, 2010.

Personal

Granger was born to Debra Granger, a

Mexican restaurant Mexican cuisine consists of the cooking cuisines and traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican Cuisine, Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities su ...

manager on September 4, 1986. He is cousin of

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

NBA player

Danny Granger Danny Granger Jr. (born April 20, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 2005 after a two-year college stint at New ...

.Oklahoma Sooners bio
/ref>

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Granger, Demarcus 1986 births Living people People from Dallas American football defensive tackles Oklahoma Sooners football players Iowa Barnstormers players Omaha Nighthawks players Seattle Seahawks players