Mark Estelle (born July 29, 1981) is a former professional American and Canadian football

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. He played for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League from 2006 to 2011. He also played for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

of the National Football League and the Cologne Centurions of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

High school years

While attending Carson High School in

Carson, California Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, ...

, Estelle was a standout in football, baseball, and track & field. In football, he was an All-Conference cornerback and in track & field, he was the Los Angeles City Champion in the long jump. Mark Estelle graduated from Carson High School in 1999.

Junior college career

Estelle attended Los Angeles Southwest College for one year and

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in football and track & field. In football, he was a first-team All-JUCO selection, unanimously voted into the All-

Western State Conference The Western State Conference (WSC) is a college athletic conference that is affiliated with the California Community College Athletic Association. The conference was established in 1950, making it the oldest community college conference in Califo ...

team, and named the Team's Defensive Player of the Year.

NCAA career

Estelle attended Utah State University, and he was a three-year letterwinner in football. As a junior, he made 30 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, and 13 pass deflections.

Professional career

In 2005, Estelle attended the Montreal Alouettes and Baltimore Ravens training camps. The following year, he signed with the

and was assigned to the Cologne Centurions of

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

where he made 16 tackles, 11 knockdowns, and three forced fumbles. He moved on to the Texans training camp and finally joined the Alouettes in September and played in the final regular season game and started in the Canadian Football League East Division championship and the 93rd Grey Cup. He returned to the Alouettes for the

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and

2008 CFL season The 2008 CFL season was the 55th season of modern-day Canadian football, the 51st season for the Canadian Football League. It was also the first CFL season in which all of the league's regular season and post-season games, including the Grey Cup ...

s and was named an East Division All-Star in 2008. He was supposed to become a free agent after the season, but was re-signed by the Alouettes on February 16, 2009. He became a free agent on February 15, 2012.

References

1981 births Living people American football defensive backs American players of Canadian football Montreal Alouettes players Utah State Aggies football players Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) players Sportspeople from Carson, California Players of American football from Los Angeles Houston Texans players Players of Canadian football from Los Angeles Carson High School (Carson, California) alumni {{defensiveback-1980s-stub