Noel Keith Grigsby Jr. (born October 2, 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 ...

wide receiver. Grigsby played college football for the

San Jose State Spartans The San Jose State Spartans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference (MW) at the NCAA Division I level, with football competing in the Football B ...

. He set school records for career receptions and career receiving yards.

High school

Born and raised in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Grigsby graduated from

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls aroun ...

of the South Central region of Los Angeles in 2009. He was a wide receiver and

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 ...

in football and

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

also in basketball and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

, the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, and

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

offered Grigsby scholarships, and

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Oregon State University 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 co ...

, and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

also expressed interest. Grigsby committed with San Jose State on February 4, 2009.

College career

As a freshman, Grigsby enrolled as a

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

major at

and

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 ...

the 2009 season. In 2010, Grigsby had 56 receptions, 822 receiving yards, and 4

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. He was the first freshman in school history to garner 700 or more receiving yards in a season. On November 13, he had a season-high 185 receiving yards against

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

."Noel Grigsby"
espn.go.com. Retrieved February 3, 2013. Grigsby made the

Phil Steele Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football. He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media. His company, Phil Steele Publications, prod ...

Freshman All-American second-team. Grigsby had 89 catches, 886 receiving yards, and 2 touchdowns in 2011."Noel Grigsby Stats"
sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 3, 2013. His 89 catches ranked second in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC) and was a San Jose State record for a single season; by late October, Grigsby was the leading pass receiver in the WAC. In San Jose State's season finale, a 27-24 win over rival

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

, Grigsby made an 18-yard touchdown reception giving San Jose State a 27-17 lead following the extra point. Grigsby ended the season on the all-WAC second-team. In 2012, Grigsby had 82 receptions, 1,307 receiving yards, and 9 touchdowns. He ranked second in the WAC in receptions and receiving yards and ranked tenth in the NCAA in receiving yards. He also set San Jose State records for most catches and receiving yards in a career. Grigsby had a season-high 181 receiving yards against Utah State on October 13; his 20-yard touchdown reception with 24 seconds left before halftime capped 17 unanswered points from San Jose State to bring the team to a 28-20 deficit before halftime; San Jose State lost 49-27 to

. He had 134 receiving yards against

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

in the

2012 Military Bowl The 2012 Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 27, 2012, at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. The fifth edition of the Military Bowl began at 3:00&n ...

. In the WAC's final season sponsoring football before San Jose State moved to the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

, Grigsby made the All-WAC first-team. As a senior in 2013, Grigsby played only the first two games of the season and was sidelined the rest of the season due to knee surgery. He had 10 receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns and returned two punts for 16 yards. Grigsby graduated from San Jose State in December 2013 with a degree in communication studies.

Professional career

Following 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 ...

, Grigsby signed an undrafted free agent contract with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

on May 16, 2014 and was waived on June 5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigsby, Noel 1991 births Living people American football wide receivers Players of American football from Los Angeles San Jose State Spartans football players Oakland Raiders players