Drisan Bryant James (born October 6, 1984 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

) is a former gridiron football wide receiver. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2007. He played college football for the

Boise State Broncos The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Moun ...

. James has also been a member of the Oakland Raiders and

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 play ...

College career

James played college football at Boise State. During his college career, he achieved a total of 115 receptions for 1810 yards. He also

rushed ''Rushed'' is a 2021 American mystery thriller drama film directed by Vibeke Muasya and starring Siobhan Fallon Hogan (who also wrote the screenplay and co-produced the film) and Robert Patrick. Plot Barbara O’Brien, an Irish-Catholic mother i ...

14 times for a gain of 124 yards. Led the team in receiving yards per game (46.2) and yards per catch (16.8) during the 2006 season. James is best known for his performance in the 2007

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 pla ...

, where he caught two

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

passes against the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

and helped lead Boise State to a 43-42 victory in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

. Most spectacularly, on a fourth down play with eighteen seconds left in regulation, James caught an eighteen-yard pass and made a brilliant

lateral Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Healthcare *Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction * Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle * Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap Phonetics *Lateral co ...

to teammate Jerard Rabb running the opposite way, resulting in a game-tying touchdown with seven seconds left. The play required James to "sell" to the defense the notion that he was going to keep the ball and try for a first down, and also to lateral the ball at the last instant yet lead his teammate in full stride. A close look at the replay shows that had the lateral not been timed and delivered perfectly, the receiver would likely not have made it to the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

for the tying score.

Professional career

National Football League

James signed a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

contract with 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 ...

Chicago Bears in May, 2007.ESPN – Chicago Bears Transactions – NFL Football
/ref> He was on the practice squad of the Oakland Raiders during the 2007 season. He is now a Free Agent. On November 24, 2008, James signed a contract with the

to be on the practice squad.

Canadian Football League

James signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on May 29, 2009. He played two seasons for the team.

Post-career

James now works as a

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

External links

Just Sports StatsOakland Raiders bio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Drisan 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers American players of Canadian football Boise State Broncos football players Chicago Bears players Oakland Raiders players Philadelphia Eagles players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Players of American football from Phoenix, Arizona