Arthur Justin Beriault (born August 23, 1981) is a former American football

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. 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 ...

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

Early years

Beriault was a three-sport athlete at Warren Central High School. As a senior in football, he collected 112 tackles, 4 interceptions, one fumble recovery, 21 receptions for 468 yards and 5 touchdowns. He finished his prep career with 242 tackles, 7 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries, 35 receptions for 710 yards and 7 touchdowns. He also practiced basketball and baseball.

College career

Beriault accepted a football scholarship from

. As a redshirt freshman, he was a starter at

outside 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, ...

making 117 tackles (led the team), 77 solo tackles, 2 tackles for loss, one interception and 3 passes defensed. Against

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, he had 13 tackles. Against the University of Northern Iowa, he made 14 tackles. Against

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

, he had 15 tackles. As a sophomore, he started 12 games, posting 121 tackles (second on the team), 6 tackles for loss, 2 passes defensed, one interception and 2 forced fumbles. Against Clemson University, he had 11 tackles. Against Western Michigan University, he made 14 tackles. Against Marshall University, he had 14 tackles. As a junior, he was converted into a

. He started 11 out of 12 games, tallying 145 tackles (led the team), 6 tackles for loss, 6 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles and one interception, while receiving All-MAC recognition. Against the University of Missouri, he had 16 tackles and one pass defensed. Against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, he made 15 tackles and one pass defensed. As a senior, he ranked 10th in the nation with 125 tackles (led the team), 64 solo tackles, 5 tackles for loss, one interception, one fumble recovery, earning All-MAC honors for the second year in a row. Against

, he had 14 tackles. Against the University of Missouri, he made 11 tackles. Against Northern Illinois University, he had 14 tackles (one for loss) and a blocked field goal. He started 45 of the 46 games and had 508 tackles (267 solo), 4 interceptions, 12 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and a blocked field goal. At the time he was one of the few defensive players in college football history to record at least 100 tackles in each of his four seasons.

Professional career

Beriault was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round (208th overall) of the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 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 NFL draft, draft was held April 23–24, 2005 NFL seaso ...

and gave him Bill Bates' number (40). After playing in several preseason games at

and earning praise from the Cowboys' coaching staff, he suffered a knee injury that forced the Cowboys to place him on the injured reserve list on September 3,

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 ...

. He had a dual surgery performed to repair torn medial and lateral meniscus in his right knee, a procedure thought to be career threatening, because at the time no

NFL 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 major ...

player had fully recovered from an osteotomy surgery. The next year, he participated in training camp, but ended up announcing his retirement on August 14,

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 ...

References

External links

Long Odds Beat Beriault
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beriault, Justin 1981 births Living people People from Marion County, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana American football safeties Ball State Cardinals football players Dallas Cowboys players Ball State University alumni