Greg Camarillo ( ; born April 18, 1982) 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 ...

wide receiver. 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 ...

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 ...

. He was signed by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

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 2005. Camarillo also played for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. He is most notable for his game-winning 64-yard touchdown reception from

Cleo Lemon Cleo Lemon Jr. (born August 16, 1979) is a wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and former American football quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League. He most recently played for the Toronto Arg ...

against 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 ...

on December 16, 2007. The play won the Dolphins the game 22–16 in overtime and was the team's first win after thirteen consecutive losses to begin the year. It was also the only game the Dolphins won the entire season and allowed them to narrowly avoid becoming the first 0–16 team in NFL history (which was later achieved by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in the 2008 season).Fialkov, Harvey. "Baltimore Ravens saved 2007 Miami Dolphins embarrassment of 0-16 season," ''Orlando Sentinel'', Sunday, October 19, 2008.
Retrieved May 14, 2018

Early years

Camarillo is Jewish. His mother is also Jewish, and her family immigrated to the U.S. from Hungary. His father was born in California, and is a professor of Mexican-American history and culture at

. His Catholic paternal grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico. Camarillo was raised Jewish and celebrating both Christmas and

Chanukah or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem) , nickname = , observedby = Jews , begins = 25 Kislev , ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet , celebrations = Lighting candles each night ...

. Camarillo attended

Menlo-Atherton High School Menlo-Atherton High School (known as M-A to locals) is a four-year public charter secondary school located in Atherton, California. Menlo-Atherton is part of the Sequoia Union High School District.

in Atherton, California, where he was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

in football and basketball. In football, he was a four-year letterman and as a senior, he was a first-team All-Peninsula Athletic League honoree and an All-San Mateo County selection. In basketball, he was a second-team All-Peninsula Athletic League selection.

College career

He turned down

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and chose Stanford, where he walked on as a punter, red-shirted his first year in 2000 and later played wide receiver for four seasons, totaling 46 receptions for 614 yards, and played on special teams for the Cardinal. He earned Academic All-Pac-10 honors for three years, graduating with a degree in product design engineering. As a junior, Camarillo caught 18 passes for 225 yards (a 12.5 per-catch average), and posted similar but slightly better statistics as a senior (19 catches for 294 yards and a 15.5 per-catch average).

Professional career

San Diego Chargers

Camarillo was signed 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 ...

by the

in 2005.

Miami Dolphins

On September 2, 2007, the

claimed Camarillo off waivers. On December 16, 2007, Camarillo caught a 64-yard touchdown pass from

in overtime against the

, clinching the

' first and only win of the 2007 NFL season. It was the longest offensive play for the Dolphins in 2007. Camarillo had a career-high 109 receiving yards and one touchdown. This was Camarillo's first touchdown since high school, since he failed to score during his four seasons at Stanford. In the following week, a 28–7 loss to the

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 ...

, Camarillo recorded his second professional touchdown when he scored on a 21-yard pass reception. Camarillo's third pro touchdown came on October 5, 2008, on a 17-yard second-quarter pass from

Chad Pennington James Chadwick Pennington (born June 26, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Marshall, where he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and was select ...

, in a 17–10 victory over the

. On November 20, 2008, Camarillo signed a three-year, $6 million contract extension. Three days later, he caught what would be his fourth and final touchdown of the season, as later on he suffered a torn ACL against the

and was subsequently placed on season-ending

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 ...

. In the 2009 NFL season, Camarillo did not drop a single pass thrown to him, earning him a reputation as a safe pair of hands in a pinch.

Minnesota Vikings

On August 25, 2010, the

traded Camarillo to the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

for cornerback

Benny Sapp Benjamin Lee Sapp, II (born January 20, 1981) is a former American football cornerback. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Northern Iowa. Sapp also played for the Miami Dolph ...

due to the Vikings' injury problems at wide receiver. He became a free agent after not being re-signed at the start of the 2012 offseason.

New Orleans Saints

The

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

signed Camarillo on August 19, 2012. He was released as part of the final roster cuts before the start of the 2012 regular season. He was re-signed on September 11, 2012 following injuries to the saints receiving corps on the first game of the regular season. His contract with the

was terminated on October 20, 2012 to make room for Linebacker

Jonathan Vilma Jonathan Polynice Vilma (born April 16, 1982) is a former American football linebacker and current Fox NFL analyst. He played college football at the University of Miami, winning a National Championship in 2001. He went on to be drafted by the N ...

who was activated off of the PUP list.

References

External links

Miami Dolphins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camarillo, Greg 1982 births Living people People from Redwood City, California American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American sportspeople of Mexican descent Jewish American sportspeople American football wide receivers Stanford Cardinal football players San Diego Chargers players Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Miami Dolphins players Minnesota Vikings players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from California 21st-century American Jews