Ishmael Hyman (born August 23, 1995) is an

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 who is a free agent. 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 ...

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...

Early life and high school

Hyman grew up

Manalapan, New Jersey Manalapan Township (, ) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located within the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of ...

and attended St. John Vianney High School, where he played football and ran track. As a senior, he had 24 receptions for 428 yards and four touchdowns before suffering a season-ending injury and finished fourth in the state in the 200-meter dash. Rated a three-star recruit, Hyman committed to play college football at Kansas over offers from Boston College, Rutgers, Syrcause, Temple, James Madison and Villanova.

College career

Hyman began his collegiate career at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, redshirting his true first year before deciding to transfer to

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

at the end of the season. In four seasons with the Dukes, Hyman caught 72 passes for 1,061 yards and 11 touchdowns and was a member of the 2016 team that won the FCS National Championship.

Professional career

Orlando Apollos

After going unselected in the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

and going unsigned as an undrafted free agent, Hyman was signed by the

Orlando Apollos The Orlando Apollos were a professional American football franchise based in Orlando, Florida, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began play in February 2019. The team played its home games at Spectrum ...

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

. Hyman caught four passes for 60 yards with Orlando before the AAF ceased operations.

Cleveland Browns

Hyman was signed by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

on April 25, 2019. Hyman was waived by the Browns during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Hyman was signed by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

' practice squad on September 24, 2019. He was released but was re-signed on October 16, 2019. The Buccaneers promoted Hyman to the active roster on December 10, 2019. He made his NFL debut on December 15, 2019, against 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 ...

, catching one pass for three yards in a 38–17 win. He was waived on December 24, 2019, and re-signed to the practice squad. Hyman finished the season with two receptions on four targets for 34 yards in two games played.

Carolina Panthers

On January 2, 2020, Hyman signed a reserve/future contract with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

. He was waived on September 5, 2020, and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was placed on the practice squad/injured list on November 28. He was placed on the practice squad/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the team on December 7, 2020, and moved back to the practice squad/injured list on December 22. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Panthers on January 4, 2021. He was waived on August 28, 2021.

Michigan Panthers

Hyman signed with the

Michigan Panthers The Michigan Panthers were a professional American football team based in the Detroit, Michigan area. The Panthers competed in the United States Football League (USFL) as a member of the Western Conference and Central Division. The team played i ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

on May 10, 2022, and was transferred to the team's inactive roster two days later.

Green Bay Packers

On July 28, 2022, Hyman signed with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He was waived/injured on August 30, 2022 and placed on injured reserve. He was released on September 9.

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bioJames Madison Dukes bioTampa Bay Buccaneers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyman, Ishmael 1995 births Living people People from Manalapan Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Monmouth County, New Jersey St. John Vianney High School (New Jersey) alumni Players of American football from New Jersey American football wide receivers Kansas Jayhawks football players James Madison Dukes football players Orlando Apollos players Cleveland Browns players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Carolina Panthers players Michigan Panthers (2022) players Green Bay Packers players