Dwayne Slay (born June 21, 1984) is a former football

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

who played collegiate football for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raide ...

. Later he also played professionally for the Chicago Bears and

Amarillo Dusters The Amarillo Venom were a professional indoor football team based in Amarillo, Texas. They played their home games at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Venom began play in 2004 as the Amarillo Dusters, a charter member of the Intense Football Leagu ...

and

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

Playing career

College

While only playing for one season as a starter at

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, Slay set a new

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

record with eight forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

s in a single season. This achievement, along with Slay being one of the top tacklers in the Big 12, contributed to him being named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year by the

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and First-team All-Big 12 Conference in November,

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 ...

. Slay was also named a First-team All-American by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' in December 2005, the first Red Raider thus selected since

Montae Reagor Willie Montae Reagor (; born June 29, 1977) is a former defensive tackle who spent nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Texas Tech University, and he was recognized as an All-American. He was drafted ...

in 1998. In one game—against the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as c ...

on October 15, 2005—Slay had two big hits. The first was a tackle on Kansas Statewide receiver Davin Dennis that caused a fumble. Slay later caused another fumble when he hit

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Allan Everidge on an up-the-middle draw play that forced Everidge to the turf for several minutes. The Red Raiders won the game 59-20. Towards the end of the season, ESPN's

Mel Kiper, Jr. Mel Kiper Jr. (; born July 25, 1960) is an analyst covering American football for ESPN. He has appeared on ESPN's annual NFL draft coverage since 1984, providing in-depth information on the nation's potential draft picks. Career Kiper said th ...

had Slay as one of his top 25 NFL draft prospects and many believed Slay would, at the very least, go late in the first day of the draft. However, after a poor pro-day workout at the NFL combine, Slay's status dropped significantly.

Professional

Pundits predicted that Dwayne Slay would be drafted by an NFL team in the seventh round of the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with ad ...

; but, after going undrafted, Slay instead signed a free agent contract with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. Slay was released by the Bears due to injuring his hamstring. The Bears re-signed Slay and put him on the practice squad as a linebacker. He later left the team and was signed by the

. Slay moved on to sign with the

, but was later cut and is currently out of football.

Personal life

Following his retirement from football, he returned to Texas. In 2015, he returned to at Texas Tech and completed his bachelor's degree in human sciences. He is the cousin of NFL cornerback

Darius Slay Darius Demetrius Slay Jr. (born January 1, 1991) is an American football cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the s ...

References

External links

Play bio from Texas Tech Athletics

Slay hit on Davin Dennis

Slay hit on Allan Everidge

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slay, Dwayne American football safeties Chicago Bears players Texas Tech Red Raiders football players Amarillo Dusters players Living people 1984 births All-American college football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Sportspeople from Brunswick, Georgia African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football American football linebackers 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people