Duane Lonell Starks (born May 23, 1974) 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

. He was drafted by 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 ...

10th overall in the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. Starks, who earned a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

with the Ravens in

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

, also played for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Early years

Duane Starks attended

Miami Beach High School Miami Beach Senior High School (Beach High, MBSH) is a secondary school located at 2231 Prairie Avenue Miami Beach, Florida, across from the Miami Beach Convention Center and Botanical Garden. It is located at the corner of Prairie Avenue and ...

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...

, and won

varsity letters A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

in both football and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. In football, as a senior quarterback, he was a first-team All-Dade County selection, where he was a teammate of future pro bowl corner

Samari Rolle Samari Toure Rolle (born August 10, 1976) is a retired American football cornerback. He was drafted by the Tennessee Oilers in the second round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State. Rolle has also played for the Ba ...

, and a second-team All-Florida selection. In track, he finished second at the State Finals on the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and set the school record in the long jump.

College career

Starks was a two-year starter at cornerback, and a star returner for the

. Starks was interviewed about his time at the University of Miami for the documentary ''

The U "The U" is a nickname often given to a university. Specifically, it has been used to refer to: * The University of Miami ** ''The U'' (film), a 2009 documentary about the University of Miami football team. * The University of Utah The Univers ...

'', which premiered December 12, 2009 on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Duane Starks was picked with the 10th overall pick in the

. Right away he was an important player in the Ravens famous defense. He recorded 20 interceptions in his first four years as a Raven. He is most well known by Raven fans for his interception for a touchdown in Super Bowl XXXV, a play that many agree ended the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

small chance for a comeback.

Arizona Cardinals

Starks was signed as 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 ...

at the end of the 2001 season by the Arizona Cardinals. He became an impact in the secondary by intercepting two passes his first year. His second year was ended early with a season-ending injury. He bounced back after that by intercepting three passes and returning one for a touchdown. He recorded a total of 5 interceptions and one touchdown with the team.

New England Patriots

After the 2004 season the New England Patriots traded a third round pick to bring the veteran to bolster their secondary after losing their Pro Bowl corner

Ty Law Tajuan Edward "Ty" Law (born February 10, 1974) is an American former American football, football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football a ...

in the off season. He was having a lackluster season when the Pats placed him on IR after a season-ending shoulder injury.

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders signed Starks after the Patriots released him following the 2005 season. He played in only three games during the 2006 season, recording three tackles. He was inactive for the first three games of the Raiders' 2007 season, and released to make room for quarterback and first-round pick

JaMarcus Russell JaMarcus Trenell Russell (born August 9, 1985) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Highly successful at LSU, where he was MVP of the 2007 Sugar ...

. He was out of football the rest of the 2007 season. On April 15, 2008, Starks was re-signed by the Raiders on a one-year contract, but was released by the Raiders on May 13.Oakland Raiders

NFL statistics

References

External links

New England Patriots bioOakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starks, Duane 1974 births Living people Players of American football from Miami American football cornerbacks Holmes Bulldogs football players Miami Hurricanes football players Baltimore Ravens players Arizona Cardinals players New England Patriots players Oakland Raiders players Miami Beach Senior High School alumni