Legedu A. Naanee (pronounced LEG-a-doo Nah-NAY, born September 16, 1983) 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 ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. 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 ...

for the

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...

. Naanee has also played for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

and 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 ...

Early years

Naanee attended Franklin High School in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

and was a student and a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he was a four-year starter earning awards at quarterback and defensive back. In basketball, he won All-League honors as a junior.

College career

Although Naanee received scholarship offers from many

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

schools, such as

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, Naanee chose to play

because they were the only major program to offer him a chance to play

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, a position he cherished and played in high school. After

Jared Zabransky Jared Zabransky (born December 4, 1983) is a former professional gridiron football quarterback in the National Football League and the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Houston Texans of the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2007 thou ...

won the starting job in 2004, Naanee realized that if he wanted to play, it had to be at another position.Jay Posner
SignOnSanDiego.com > San Diego Chargers – For Chargers rookie, good comes from new position
/ref> Naanee filled in at receiver and although the transition and failure at quarterback was difficult, he said being able to "feel like you were part of things and contributing, that went out the window". He remarked, "maybe it was something that was meant to be, for me to go through something like that and then to switch."

Professional career

2007 NFL Draft

With Naanee playing most of his football career at receiver, the Chargers selected Naanee with the 172nd overall selection in the 5th round of the 2007 NFL Draft.

San Diego Chargers

Naanee was targeted by Norv Turner to become the next star for the Chargers to become his F-Back project, much like

Delanie Walker Hubert Delanie Walker (born August 12, 1984) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at the Central Missouri State and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. After seven sea ...

and Michael Robinson were when Turner was the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

of the

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 ...

. The F-Back is much like the H-back in other offenses in the sense it is a hybrid position (WR/TE/FB) purposely versatile to take advantage of mismatches. Naanee was the starting number two receiver for the Chargers behind

Malcom Floyd Malcom Maiuu Floyd (born September 8, 1981) is a former American professional football player who was a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire NFL career with San Diego after sign ...

for much of the 2010 season. This is due to a holdout by the usual starter

Vincent Jackson Vincent Terrell Jackson (January 14, 1983 – February 15, 2021) was an American professional football player who played as a wide receiver for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Northern Colorad ...

. Naanee caught a touchdown pass in his first start of the 2010 season on a 59-yard pass from quarterback

Philip Rivers Philip Michael Rivers (born December 8, 1981) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Chargers franchise. He played college football at NC State and was sele ...

in the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. Regarding his versatility,

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Norv Turner Norval Turner (born May 17, 1952) is an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). An offensive assistant for the majority of his coaching career, he came to prominence as the Dallas Cowboys' offensive coordinator during thei ...

said, "We're going to continue to move him. He's going to be a guy who's versatile enough to move around. That's going to help him be put in position to make some plays." On December 6, 2009, Naanee completed a pass on a

flea flicker A flea flicker is an unorthodox play, often called a " trick play", in American football which is designed to fool the defensive team into thinking that a play is a run instead of a pass. It can be considered an extreme variant of the play actio ...

LaDainian Tomlinson LaDainian Tarshane Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. After a successful college career with the TCU Horned Frogs, the San Diego Chargers se ...

Arrest

He was arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest at the scene of a homicide in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

on February 12, 2011.

Carolina Panthers

Naanee signed with the

on August 4, 2011. He played the whole season as the number 3 receiver behind

Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...

and

Brandon LaFell Brandon Josiah LaFell (born November 4, 1986) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft, and has also played for the New England Patriots where he was a member ...

. He caught 1 touchdown pass from Quarterback

Cam Newton Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He has played for 11 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Super Cam", he is the NFL ...

, but dropped more passes than he caught, including a wide open end zone pass that would have won the game for the Panthers. At the end of the season the Panthers did not renew his contract.

Miami Dolphins

Naanee signed a one-year deal with the

on April 17. He was cut on October 2, 2012 after posting only one catch for 19 yards in his four-game tenure with the team.

Career statistics

Post-career life

Naanee now owns four San Diego-area businesses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naanee, Legedu 1983 births Living people Players of American football from Portland, Oregon American sportspeople of Nigerian descent American football wide receivers Boise State Broncos football players San Diego Chargers players Carolina Panthers players Miami Dolphins players Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni