John Sheppard Warren (born November 8, 1960) 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 wi ...

punter in 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 ...

(NFL) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

. He played college football at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

Early years

Warren attended Wayne County High School where he was considered the state's best punter. Additionally, he was the team's placekicker. He practiced

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 ...

and was drafted out of high school by the Cincinnati Reds.

College careers

After receiving Division I NCAA scholarships offers from different schools, he settled on the

. His best season came as a freshman, registering 52 punts for 2,106 yards and a 40.5-yard average. In his last two years he was a backup behind Jimmy Colquitt, with Warren handling the directional punts. He finished his college career posting 42 games, 133 punts, 5,289 yards and a 39.8-yard average. He also practiced

Professional career

Warren 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

after the

1983 NFL Draft The 1983 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sh ...

. In the 70's and early 80's, the Cowboys had the luxury that they didn't need to carry a punter on their roster, because

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 ...

Danny White Wilford Daniel White (born February 9, 1952) is a former quarterback and Punter (football), punter for the Dallas Cowboys and an American football coach in the Arena Football League. He has been the color commentator for Cowboys games on Compas ...

could perform that task at a high level. After he was injured in the 1982 NFC championship and placekicker

Rafael Septién José Rafael Septién Michel (born December 12, 1953) is a Mexican-American former placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Louisiana at La ...

was forced to be the punter replacement, the team decided to carry Warren as the punter for the 1983 season. As a rookie, he shared punting duties with White, until being placed on the

injured reserve list 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 ...

after suffering a right knee injury while covering one of his punts against the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

. In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, he became part of a revolving door, where he was released and signed on different times during the season. On August 19,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, he was waived after being passed on the depth chart by

Mike Saxon Michael Eric Saxon (born July 10, 1962) is a former American football punter in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at San Diego State University. He won Sup ...

References

External links

Cowboys' Warren Not Sure If He Is Coming Or Going
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, John 1960 births Living people People from Jesup, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football punters Tennessee Volunteers football players Tennessee Volunteers baseball players Dallas Cowboys players