L'Damian Washington (born May 10, 1991) 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 wide receiver. He was a member of 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 divisi ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

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. ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

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 ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

Birmingham Iron The Birmingham Iron were a professional American football franchise based in Birmingham, Alabama, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which played one season from February 2019 to April 2019. They played thei ...

, and

St. Louis BattleHawks The St. Louis BattleHawks are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha A ...

. He played college football at

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Washington currently serves as wide receiver coach for the South Florida Bulls.

Early years

Washington attended

Green Oaks High School Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy is a high school for Junior high grades 7-8, and high school grades 9-12, founded in August, 1971 in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. History Due to a fast-growing local population, Shreveport's only high ...

, where he played football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. As a junior, he earned All-district honors after making 7 interceptions while playing at

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 ...

. As a senior, he registered 53 receptions for 1,064 yards and 12

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s at wide receiver, while having 4 interceptions on defense. In one game he posted 6 receptions for 257 yards and 3

s. He was a team captain and a First-team All-district selection. He was named the offensive MVP at the inaugural Sportsman's Paradise All-Star Game in Louisiana.

College career

Washington accepted a football scholarship from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 12 games (one start), collecting 5 receptions for 35 yards. The next year, he recorded 20 receptions for 364 yards (18.2-yard average) and 3

s. He earned the full-time starter job as a junior, registering 25 receptions for 443 yards (17.7-yard average) and 2

s. In 2013, Washington finished his senior season with 50 receptions for 893 yards (17.9-yard average) and 10

s, including a 96-yard touchdown catch against the University of South Carolina. He was limited with a left

turf toe A metatarsophalangeal joint sprain is an injury to the connective tissue between the foot and a toe (at a metatarsophalangeal joint, one of the joints in the ball of the foot). When the big toe is involved, it is known as "turf toe". Causes Turf ...

during the final five games of the season. He was also voted a team captain the same year.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Washington 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

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

. He suffered a right shoulder injury in June, that forced him to miss most of the organized team activities. He returned in time for the start of training camp, but injuries on the

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

forced the team to waive him on August 2.

San Francisco 49ers

Washington was claimed off waivers by the

on August 3, 2014. He was cut on August 30.

New York Giants

Washington was signed to the

practice squad on September 16, 2014. He was released on September 24.

Cleveland Browns

Washington was signed to the

practice squad on October 21, 2014. He was waived on November 25.

Miami Dolphins

Washington was signed to the

practice squad on December 3, 2014.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The

signed Washington to a futures contract on January 8, 2015. On May 21, he was 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 ...

and was waived injured 5 days later, after splitting his calf in two and tearing it off the bone.

Kansas City Chiefs

Washington signed with the

on August 3, 2015. He was released by the team on August 30.

Edmonton Eskimos

On September 1, 2016, Washington was signed by the

of the

Canadian Football League 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 ...

. He was released from the practice roster on September 13.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

On May 31, 2017, he signed with the

of the

. He started in the season opener against the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

, tallying 2 receptions for 38 yards and one

. He appeared in 8 games, registering 24 receptions for 246 yards and two

. He was cut on May 1, 2018.

Birmingham Iron

On September 14, 2018, Washington signed with the

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

for the 2019 season. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

St. Louis BattleHawks

In October 2019, Washington was selected by the

as part of the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social m ...

. On February 9, 2020, he started in the season opener tallying 5 receptions for 20 yards in a 15–9 win over the

Dallas Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The team was founded as the Dallas Renegades by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne ...

. In March, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the league announced that it would be cancelling the rest of the season. Playing in all 5 games, he had 21 receptions for 252 yards and one touchdown. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Post-playing career

Washington was head football coach at West Middle School in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

for the Fall 2019 and 2020 season. In January 2022, Washington joined the

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma (variously "Oklahoma" or "OU"). The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (forme ...

staff as an offensive analyst and assistant wide receivers coach. On August 7, 2022, following the sudden resignation of wide receivers coach

Cale Gundy Joseph Cale Gundy (born April 10, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Oklahoma Sooners from 1990 to 1993. While at Oklahoma he was a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. From 1999 until his resignati ...

, Washington was appointed to the role on an interim basis by head coach

Brent Venables Thomas Brent Venables (born December 18, 1970) is an American football coach who is the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Clemson University from 2012 to 2021. V ...

. Following the season, Washington joined the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaching staff, but later that same offseason was offered and accepted the role of wide receivers coach at the University of South Florida. Initial results have been high, with FCS transfer Naiem Simmons posting 8 catches for 272 yards and a touchdown vs Rice University and returning WR Sean Atkins catching 4 passes for 116 yards and 2 TDs against the United States Naval Academy.

Personal life

Washington is a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

. He graduated from the

with a psychology degree in 4 years, despite having lost both of his parents at an early age. His father was murdered when he was only 6, and his mother had a stroke and died after one of his high school basketball games when he was only 15. Washington is one of four brothers (La'Courtney, Tobias, Tomarious), once their mom had passed they had all decided to remain together as one taking care of each other, with La'Courtney becoming their legal guardian. Washington was accompanied by his best friends and also high school teammates; Joshua, Roovelroe and Jordan. L'Damian's best friend was murdered when he was only 15.

In popular culture

Washington is referenced in

Trivia Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...

, the 11th episode in Season 8 of

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

as an incorrect answer to who "won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2011."

References

External links

L'Damian Washington continues the fightAthlete Spotlight: The L'Damian Washington StoryMissouri Tigers BioL'Damian Washington Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, L'Damian 1991 births Living people Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana American football wide receivers Cleveland Browns players Dallas Cowboys players Edmonton Elks players Missouri Tigers football players New York Giants players Pittsburgh Steelers players San Francisco 49ers players Birmingham Iron players St. Louis BattleHawks players