Lorenzo Adarryll Booker (born June 14, 1984) 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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. He was drafted by 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 ...

in the third 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 ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

. Booker has also been a member of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Hartford Colonials The Hartford Colonials, originally the New York Sentinels, were a professional American football team that played in the United Football League in its 2009 and 2010 seasons. A charter member of the UFL, the Sentinels began play in 2009 nominally ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

, and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Early years

Booker attended St. Bonaventure High School in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

, where he was a letterman in football and track. In

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, he played as a

. As a senior, Booker ran for 2878 yards and 50

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, and also had 16 receptions for 300 yards along with three more touchdowns. He was widely regarded as the nation's top running back prospect and was named a ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' All-American and to the ''PrepStar'' Dream Team. He also earned ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' All-USA first-team honors and was ranked by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

as the number 3 overall prospect in the country and a five star recruit. In his junior year, Booker had an equally-impressive 3103 yards and 49 touchdowns, and for his three-year career had 8502 rushing yards and 137 touchdowns, both state records. During this time, he led his team a 42-0 record. In

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, Booker competed as a sprinter and jumper. In sprints, he got PR of 10.8 seconds in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

and 22.2 seconds in the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. In the jumping events, he cleared more than 22 feet (6.80m) in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. After an initial verbal commitment to Notre Dame, Booker chose Florida State over Notre Dame and

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

in a nationally televised press conference on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Following his high school career, Booker played in the 2002 U.S. Army All-American Bowl alongside fellow Florida State Seminoles

Kamerion Wimbley Kamerion Wimbley (born October 13, 1983) is a former American football outside linebacker and defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft with the 13th ove ...

and Buster Davis. Following his senior season, he was awarded the Gatorade High School Heisman, honoring the top high school athlete in the nation.

College career

Booker

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his first year at

. In his freshman year with the Seminoles in 2003, Booker was fourth on the team in carries with 62, third in rushing yards with 334, and third in rushing touchdowns with three, and also recorded 19 receptions for 86 yards. In his sophomore year in 2004, Booker led the team in carries with 173, and was second in both rushing yards (887) and touchdowns (four), and also had 24 catches for 160 yards. Booker led the Seminoles in rushing yards, carries, and touchdowns in his junior year in 2005, with 119 carries for 552 yards (4.8 average) and four touchdowns. He also recorded 38 receptions for 329 yards and two touchdowns. While in college, Booker earned the nickname ''L-Boogie''.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Booker was selected in the third round (71st overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft by the

. He signed a four-year contract with the Dolphins on May 24, 2007. Booker got his first significant action in the loss to the Jets on December 12, 2007, when he was used primarily as a receiver. He had one carry for six yards and six catches for 63 yards.

Philadelphia Eagles

Booker was traded to the

on April 26, 2008, for a fourth round pick in the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

. He rushed for 53 yards on 20 carries and caught six passes for 11 yards in 2008. He was waived on September 5, 2009, during final cuts.

Hartford Colonials

Booker signed with the

of the United Football League on August 17, 2010. He was named the UFL Offensive Player of the Week for week 7 during the 2010 season after rushing for 147 yards and a touchdown. Booker boycotted the Colonials' November 20, 27-14 win over the

Las Vegas Locomotives The Las Vegas Locomotives (called the Locos for short) were a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada that played in the United Football League. The team played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium, home field for the Unive ...

to protest the league's $150,000 transfer fee. The fee was payable to a UFL team if one of its players is signed by an NFL team. Booker and other players believed they were led to believe the fee would be waived once the season is over, not until February 1, 2011, since the previous season the fee was waived and 43 UFL players eventually were signed by NFL teams. On November 22, Booker was suspended by the UFL for the boycott.

Minnesota Vikings

On December 6, 2010, Booker was signed by the

after the UFL transfer fee was reduced to $25,000. In his four games with the Vikings, Booker was used primarily as a kick returner. On 18 returns, he amassed 429 yards for an average of 23.8 yards a return. He also had 5 catches for 32 yards.

Chicago Bears

Booker signed with the

on July 17, 2012. In the second game of the preseason against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, Booker returned the second-half opening kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown. The return would've been the longest kick return in Bears history had it occurred in the regular season. Booker competed with

Armando Allen Armando Allen, Jr. (born April 30, 1989) is a former American football running back. He played professionally for two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted ...

for the third running back spot. Booker later won the spot, leading to Allen's release on August 31. Booker was put on Injured Reserve on September 8, 2012. He was released from the Injured Reserve on September 18, 2012.

References

External links

Philadelphia Eagles bioMiami Dolphins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booker, Lorenzo 1984 births Living people African-American players of American football American football running backs Florida State Seminoles football players Miami Dolphins players Sportspeople from Oxnard, California People from Ventura, California Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from California Hartford Colonials players Minnesota Vikings players Sportspeople from Ventura County, California 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people