Jose Perez Jr. (born September 15, 1985) 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

. 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 ...

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

(SDSU). He was selected by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

in the seventh round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft.

Early years

Jose Perez Jr. was born in North Carolina, and grew up in

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a city on the South Coast (California), South Coast of California, located in San Diego County, California, San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is a popular ...

and attended

Oceanside High School Oceanside High School (California) is an American public secondary school located in Oceanside, California. It is part of the Oceanside Unified School District. History and Campus Oceanside High School is one of two high schools in the Oceanside ...

. With the perennial powerhouse Oceanside Pirates he played

middle linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in his freshman year before switching to wide receiver. He led his team to the CIF Championship. As a senior, he caught 57 passes for 1112 yards in earning all-county honors.

Professional baseball

Perez, one of California's top outfielders and wide receivers in high school, initially committed to attending SDSU, where he would play both college football under

Tom Craft Thomas Jay Craft (born November 12, 1953) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Riverside Community College in Riverside, California. Craft served as the head football coach at San Diego State University from 2002 to 2 ...

and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

under

Tony Gwynn Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr. (May 9, 1960 – June 16, 2014), nicknamed "Mr. Padre", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played 20 seasons (1982–2001) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hit ...

. However, Perez—who grew up a Yankee fan—instead accepted a six-figure bonus to play with Yankees. He played minor league baseball in the Yankee organization for three seasons before being released.

College football

Perez then joined SDSU's football team as a walk-on, where was converted from receiver to cornerback. Perez received an honorable mention for the All-

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

team in his senior year.

Professional football

Perez was signed by 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 ...

as undrafted free agent in 2011, but was released in the preseason.

References

External links

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San Diego State Aztecs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Jose 1985 births Living people Players of American football from North Carolina Baseball outfielders American football cornerbacks Gulf Coast Yankees players Staten Island Yankees players San Diego State Aztecs football players Miami Dolphins players Sportspeople from Oceanside, California People from Cherry Point, North Carolina