Joshua Leonard Nesbitt (born April 15, 1988) 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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

for the

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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 ...

(NFL). He was formerly the starting quarterback for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

High school career

Nesbitt attended Greene County High School in Greensboro, Georgia from 2003 to 2007. He was regarded as Georgia's number one recruit at quarterback as a senior and the number 12 QB in the nation. Nesbitt was named to the Scout.com national Hot 100 (No. 76) and the Rivals 250, and was the No. 4 overall prospect in Georgia according to Scout.com. He was also rated the No. 9 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals. Nesbitt was a two-time, first-team all-state selection and the Class AA Offensive Player of the Year as a junior. He was named to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Super Southern 100 and preseason Super 11 team before his senior year. As a junior at Greene County High under Coach Larry Milligan, Nesbitt passed for 2,833 yards with 31 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,252 yards and 22 scores. As a senior, he passed for 2,256 yards and 32 touchdowns with just four interceptions, and 134-of-222 passes completed. Nesbitt also rushed for 493 yards on 93 carries and scored eight touchdowns. He added four interceptions in two seasons on defense.

College career

Freshman season

As Taylor Bennett's backup, Nesbitt was brought in for rushing during his freshman season under coach

Chan Gailey Thomas Chandler Gailey Jr. (born January 5, 1952) is a former American football coach. Most recently in 2020, he was the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). Gailey has previously served as the head ...

Sophomore season

In 2008, Nesbitt earned the starting quarterback job under new Tech coach Paul Johnson for his

option offense An option offense is an American football offensive system in which a key player (usually the quarterback) has several "options" of how each play will proceed based upon the actions of the defense. Traditionally, option-based offenses rely on ru ...

Junior season

The 2009 season saw Nesbitt rush for 1037 yards and 18 touchdowns. Nesbitt also had 1701 yards through the air with 10 touchdowns. He led the Yellow Jackets to an

ACC Championship Game The ACC Championship Game is an annual American college football game held in early December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. From its inception in 2005 to 2022, the game pit the champion of ...

and a BCS bowl game. The Jackets finished the season with an 11–3 record following the 2010 FedEx Orange Bowl loss to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. Nesbitt was honored as the 2009

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

first-team quarterback. He was joined on the all-conference team by

Jonathan Dwyer Jonathan Avery Dwyer (born July 26, 1989) is a former American football running back . He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Arizona Cardinals. He played college football a ...

Demaryius Thomas Demaryius Antwon Thomas (December 25, 1987 – December 9, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. He played college ...

, Cord Howard, Sean Bedford,

Derrick Morgan Derrick Morgan (born 27 March 1940)Walters, Basil (2012)A New Day – Songs heralding JA’s Independence", '' Jamaica Observer'', 3 June 2012, retrieved 3 June 2012 is a Jamaican musical artist who was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He worke ...

, and

Morgan Burnett Morgan Mark Burnett (born January 13, 1989) is a former American football strong safety. He played college football at Georgia Tech and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He also played for the Pittsbu ...

, all of whom were on the

2009 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team The 2009 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represented the Georgia Institute of Technology in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by second year head coach Paul Johnson. Georgia Tech played their home ga ...

alongside Nesbitt.

Senior season

After returning for his senior year, Nesbitt suffered a broken right arm after attempting a tackle on November 4, 2010, vs. Virginia Tech. He missed the remainder of the season, but not before setting some impressive records at his position. With 2,806 career rushing yards, Nesbitt rushed for more yards than any quarterback in ACC history and over 1,000 yards more than any quarterback in Georgia Tech history. He also rushed for 35 career touchdowns— six more than any quarterback in the history of the ACC and 16 more than any Yellow Jacket quarterback before him.

Professional career

Nesbitt went undrafted in the

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but was signed by the

as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. On September 3, 2011, he was cut from the Bills' final 53-man roster, but was signed to the practice squad the following day. Nesbitt was signed to the Bills 53-man roster as a safety on November 15, 2011. He was waived/injured by the Bills on August 22, 2012, and subsequently reverted to

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 ...

on August 24.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbitt, Joshua 1988 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football safeties Buffalo Bills players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players People from Greensboro, Georgia Players of American football from Greene County, Georgia