Joe Ayoob (born August 8, 1984) is an American former
arena football
Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...
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 ...
of Lebanese descent. He was signed by the
Central Valley Coyotes
The Central Valley Coyotes were a professional arena football team and were a charter member of the AF2. As the newly forming AF2 set aside its plans for a two tier league and began focusing only on bigger markets, Central Valley stepped down a ...
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 2008. He played
college football at
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. He is also the current world record holder for throwing a John Collins–designed
paper airplane at a distance of . As of March 2021, a video of the throw has more than 4.8 million views.
High school career
Ayoob attended
Terra Linda High School
Terra Linda High School (also known as TLHS and more commonly known as TL) is a public secondary school located in Terra Linda, San Rafael, California, United States. In 2006, it was named a California Distinguished School. The school is part of t ...
, where he was named First-team All-league in
football,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
. He played in the North Coast Section Championship football games in both his
junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
and
senior seasons.
College career
C.C. San Francisco
Ayoob originally attended the
City College of San Francisco
City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franci ...
where he was regarded as one of the best
junior college quarterbacks in the nation. He was also a teammate of future Cal player
Desmond Bishop.
Ayoob helped lead the school to a 23-1 record over his two seasons, winning a national championship (12-0) in 2003. In 2004, he was named the state's
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...
Offensive Player of the year by the JC Athletic Bureau/California Community College Football Coaches Association. He earned First-team JC Gridwire All-America after completing 61.3% (217-of-354) of his passes for 3,679 yards and 35
touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...
s in 2004. He ranked #1 in the state in passing efficiency (177.5) and led the most prolific junior-college offense in California (500.1 yards-per-game). ''SuperPrep'' rated him the #2 junior college player in the nation in its postseason JuCo 100. ''
Rivals.com
Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel.
History
Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...
'' ranked him #15 on its national JC list. He helped lead his team to an 11-1 record, with the team's only loss a 39-32 loss to
College of the Canyons
College of the Canyons (COC) is a public community college in Santa Clarita, California. It comprises the Santa Clarita Community College District. The college is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and has campus loca ...
in the California state championship game. He was named the Offensive Player of the Game in loss, as he threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 62 yards on seven carries. In his two seasons at CCSF, he completed 352-of-571 pass attempts (61.6%) for 5,790 yards and 55 touchdowns while rushing for an additional nine touchdowns. He also won the MVP award in the state championship game in each of his two seasons.
Cal
Ayoob then transferred to the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. In
2005, he started nine games at quarterback, after an injury to
Nate Longshore, and helped lead the Bears to a 5-4 record in those games. On the season, he passed for 1,707 yards with 15 touchdowns. He ended the season #8 in the
Pac-10 in passing yards (155.2 yards-per-game) and ninth in total offense (160.5 yards-per-game). His best game of the season may have been at
New Mexico State
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...
when he was 17-of-26 passing for a season-high 284 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for three touchdowns on his first three carries. His first career start came on the road against
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
where he went 17-of-27 passing for 271 yards with four first-half touchdown passes. Against
Oregon State
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
, he became the first Cal player since
Kyle Boller
Kyle Bryan Boller (born June 17, 1981) is a former American football quarterback. After playing college football for California, he was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round (19th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played for the Ra ...
in
2002, to catch, run for, and pass for a touchdown in the same game. He threw for 274 yards against
Washington State
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, including 91 in the final seven minutes when he led the Bears to a 42-38 come-from-behind win. He was 4-of-4 with two touchdowns on Cal's last two possessions. He ran for a touchdown and passed for two touchdowns in the 28-0 win over
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. He came off the bench to play in the season opener against
Sacramento State, where he completed 0 passes out of 10 attempts. He also came off the bench to play the regular season finale at
Stanford.
In
2006, Ayoob played in just four games as Cal's backup quarterback to Nate Longshore. He completed 9-of-22 passes for 187 yards and a 40-yard touchdown pass to
DeSean Jackson
DeSean William Jackson (born December 1, 1986) is an American football wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears, where he was recognized as a con ...
against
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. He also played against
Portland State
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...
(2-for-4, 18 yards) and
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
(no attempts).
While at Cal, Ayoob majored in
Social Welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
.
Professional career
Ayoob was not invited to the 2007
NFL Scouting Combine
The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...
, so he worked out at Cal's
Pro Day
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 ...
.
Ayoob was projected to go unselected in the
2007 NFL Draft.
He went unselected in the draft and did not sign with any teams in the
NFL, leading him to join the
af2 arena football
Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...
league.
Ayoob joined the
Central Valley Coyotes
The Central Valley Coyotes were a professional arena football team and were a charter member of the AF2. As the newly forming AF2 set aside its plans for a two tier league and began focusing only on bigger markets, Central Valley stepped down a ...
for the
2008 season. On December 2, 2008, he joined the
Tri-Cities Fever
The Tri-Cities Fever were a professional indoor football franchise based in Kennewick, Washington. The Fever joined National Indoor Football League (NIFL) in 2005 as an expansion team. The Fever were owned by Teri Carr. From 2005 to 2016, the Fe ...
.
Ayoob was assigned to the
Spokane Shock
The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divisio ...
on February 24, 2011.
Personal
Ayoob describes his ethnicity as
Lebanese and
Mexican. His parents are Joe and Marie Ayoob. His father attended
Clemson on a basketball scholarship.
In late February and early March 2012, a
viral video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
spread across the web featuring Ayoob throwing a paper airplane designed by John M. Collins, across an entire air hangar, breaking the world record for the longest flight with a paper airplane, at a distance of 226 feet, 10 inches (≈69.14
m).
Ayoob returned to his alma mater,
Terra Linda High School
Terra Linda High School (also known as TLHS and more commonly known as TL) is a public secondary school located in Terra Linda, San Rafael, California, United States. In 2006, it was named a California Distinguished School. The school is part of t ...
, to become their offensive coordinator in 2022.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayoob, Joe
1984 births
Living people
American football quarterbacks
California Golden Bears football players
Central Valley Coyotes players
City College of San Francisco Rams football players
Tri-Cities Fever players
Sportspeople from San Rafael, California
Players of American football from Marin County, California
American people of Lebanese descent
American sportspeople of Mexican descent
Spokane Shock players
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent