Jeremy Sheffey (born April 5, 1984) is a former arena football

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He played collegiately at

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. In his career Sheffey has also played for 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 ...

of 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 ...

and the New York Dragons of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

and the Green Bay Blizzard of af2.

Early life

Sheffey moved to

Catlettsburg, Kentucky Catlettsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The city population was 1,856 at the 2010 census. Catlettsburg is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

after graduating from middle school in Baltimore. He then played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Boyd County High School Boyd County High School (BCHS) is a public high school in Ashland, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Boyd County Public Schools district. It is an affiliate school of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Gilder Lehrma ...

, where he was a two-time all-area selection and was named to the three-year all-district team. He was also a national champion in

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and dance in high school.

Collegiate career

Sheffey enrolled at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

in January 2002, where he began his football career in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

as a freshman. He did not see very much playing time his freshman season, sitting behind guard Jeff Berk. He recorded a team-high four knockdowns against

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

though, and saw increased playing time at

left guard In gridiron football, a guard (G), otherwise known as an offensive guard (OG), is a player who lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team on the line of scrimmage used primarily for blocking. Right g ...

in the second half of the game against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. He also started against Miami (Fla.). In his sophomore season,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Sheffey earned a starting role on the offensive line. He played in every game that season, blocking for

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 ...

Rasheed Marshall and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Kay-Jay Harris Kevin Jermaine "Kay-Jay" Harris (born March 27, 1979) is a former American football running back. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at West Virginia. Harris has also been a member ...

. He moved into the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are ''substitutes'' o ...

against UConn and recorded 20 knockdowns on the season. As a junior in

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 ...

, Sheffey headed an offensive line along with future All-American

Dan Mozes Daniel Mozes (born September 15, 1983) is an American former football center who last was a member of the Minnesota Vikings the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for West Virginia University, earned unanimous All-Americ ...

(who started the season at guard, but moved to center). He earned second-team All- Big East honors, while Mozes earned first-team honors. Although he suffered a chest contusion in the East Carolina win, he came back and recorded seven knockdowns in the win over Louisville in triple-overtime. He also recorded eight knockdowns against Cincinnati and UConn. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, as a senior, Sheffey led one of the most successful senior classes in Mountaineer history along with Mozes (who was a senior as well). Blocking for All-American running back

Steve Slaton Steve Slaton (born January 4, 1986) is a former American football running back. He played college football for West Virginia University, and earned consensus All-American honors. He was chosen by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 200 ...

and All-Big East quarterback Pat White, he made the list for the Outland Trophy (nation's best lineman) and earned All-Big East honors for the second consecutive year.

Professional career

Before the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, Sheffey held a Pro Day at West Virginia on March 8, 2007. He ran a 5.11 40 yard dash, recorded 21 225 lb. bench reps, and recorded a 4.78 shuttle time. He was projected to be an undrafted free agent. Sheffey went unselected in the 2007 NFL Draft and became free agent. Shortly after the draft, the same day of the last rounds (April 29), he was the first of the Mountaineers who entered in the draft to be signed as a free agent. He was signed by the

, who didn't take an offensive lineman in the draft. He was released by the Chargers in August 2007. On Wednesday February 13, 2008, Sheffey signed with the New York Dragons of the

. Eight days later, he was placed on recallable waivers. After being waived by the Dragons, Sheffey signed with the Green Bay Blizzard of the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

indoor football league (which is a "

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

" for the Arena Football League). In late 2008, Sheffey was placed on

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 ...

by the Blizzard after he injured his knee against the Quad City Steamwheelers. For the season, he played in five games, he carried the ball 12 times for 26 yards and two touchdowns. He also recorded 2.5 total tackles on defense.AF2 - 2008 Season Green Bay Blizzard
/ref> After the season, he was released by the Blizzard.

References

ESPN: Chat with WVU's Jeremy Sheffey - SportsNation

Notes

External links