Karibi Dede, Ph.D. (born May 8, 1983) is an

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 ...

coach and former player who serves as the defensive backs coach at Charlotte. Dede played

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 ...

and

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, p ...

for

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 ...

before a brief stint in the NFL and CFL.

High School career

Dede attended

C. D. Hylton High School C.D. Hylton Senior High School, commonly known as C.D. Hylton or Hylton High School, is a public high school located in Dale City in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, and part of the Prince William County Public Schools division. T ...

where his team won 39 consecutive games and back to back 6A Virginia State Titles.

College & Professional career

Dede played at Auburn where he appeared in 50 games and had 32 starts. As a senior Dede was named a Team Captain. Following his college career Dede was not selected in the NFL Draft, but was invited by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

to attend their rookie mini-camp and was subsequently signed as a free-agent by the club. The Giants waived Dede on August 27, 2007. On March 1, 2008, it was announced Dede had signed with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. Dede sustained an injury during the preseason and was later waived by the club.

Education

Dede is a graduate of Auburn University where he earned his

Bachelors of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Special Education, Masters of Arts in Special Education, and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Administration of Higher Education. Dede's doctoral dissertation examined "the Relationships Among Socioeconomic Status, Learning Disabilities, Academic Competence, and Social Fluency for Division I Student-Athletes."

Honors

During his playing career at Auburn, Dede was selected to the All-SEC Honor Roll in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He was also named the undergraduate student of the year in the College of Education in 2005, and that same year selected as Auburn's nominee for the SEC Good Works Team. In 2006 Dede was named a semifinalist for the

William V. Campbell Trophy The William V. Campbell, formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, is awarded by the National Football Foundation to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance. It i ...

(Academic Heisman) which is awarded to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance. In 2007 Dede was a selected to the inaugural class of the National Football Foundation National Honor Society, a recognition for players who excel both on the field and in the classroom.

References

External links

NFL.com player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dede, Karibi 1983 births Living people People from Woodbridge, Virginia American football linebackers Auburn Tigers football players New York Giants players Auburn High School (Alabama) people Hargrave Military Academy alumni