Patrick Pass (born December 31, 1977) 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 wi ...

coach and former fullback, who is currently the director of football personnel development for the

Massachusetts Pirates The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...

of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the seventh round of the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

. He played college football at

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He has also been a member of the New York Giants and the Houston Texans.

Early years

Pass attended

Tucker High School Tucker High School is the only public high school in Tucker, a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. It is operated by the DeKalb County School District. Its student body consists of over 1,800 students from many different cultures. ...

Tucker, Georgia Tucker is a city located in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, located near Atlanta and was originally settled in the 1820s, and later developed as a railroad community in 1892. According to the 2016 United States Census Bureau annual estimate ...

, and lettered in football and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. In football, he was a three-year starter at

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

, and as a senior, he was also named as an All-USA selection by ''

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, Virgi ...

''.

College career

Pass attended the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, where he played football as a running back,

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 ...

, receiver, and kick returner. Before his freshman season, he was drafted by the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

in the 1996

Major League Baseball draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

, and played that summer in the Marlins' farm system. He played again in the Marlins' minor league system before his sophomore and junior seasons in 1997 and 1998.

Professional career

Pass was drafted by the Patriots as a running back in the seventh round of the

. He spent two weeks on the Patriots' practice squad in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

before being activated. In his first start on November 19, Pass played as a running back, wide receiver, and special teamer, recording 39 rushing yards, 16 receiving yards, and two special teams tackles. In the 2002 off-season, Pass put on 35 pounds and made the transition to fullback, where he would start for the 2004 team. In 2005, with top rusher

Corey Dillon Corey James Dillon (born October 24, 1974) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots. Dillon played college football at Washing ...

injured, Pass would see time as a running back, recording a career-high 245 rushing yards that season. However, Pass himself would miss time in 2005 with a hamstring injury suffered against the Buffalo Bills on October 31. In 2006, Pass continued to struggle with the injury, being placed on the

Physically Unable to Perform Physically unable to perform (PUP) is a roster designation used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who suffered injuries during football-related activities prior to the start of training camp. Players on the PUP list may participate ...

list, and being limited to just three games before going on injured reserve. Pass also saw time as a kick returner in his time with the Patriots, returning 36 kickoffs for 745 yards. Pass signed with the Houston Texans before the start of the 2007 NFL season; the Texans released him on August 29, 2007. Pass was signed by the New York Giants on November 20, 2007, playing in one game before being released on November 27, 2007. After spending the 2008 NFL season out of football, Pass signed again with the Patriots on June 4, 2009. He was released a week later, on June 11 and retired from the NFL.

Coaching career

In 2012, Pass became the head coach of the Boston Freedom Fighters, a team in the new Professional Developmental Spring League called the "National Spring Football League". In 2020, Pass was hired as the head coach for the

, at the time a member of the

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States. Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...

. Though the 2020 season was cancelled because of 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 identi ...

, Pass would be hired again as the Pirates' head coach for 2021, their first season in the

. Pass would lead the Pirates to an 11-3 regular season record and a 37-34 victory over the Arizona Rattlers in the 2021

United Bowl United Bowl may refer to: * The championship game of the former United Indoor Football league from 2005 to 2008 * The championship game of the Indoor Football League, which acquired UIF, from 2009 to the present * The proposed name of the 2009 U ...

, the Pirates' first championship in franchise history. In 2022, Pass transitioned to become the director of football personnel development for the Pirates.

References

External links

New England Patriots bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pass, Patrick African-American baseball players African-American players of American football American football fullbacks Georgia Bulldogs football players New England Patriots players Houston Texans players New York Giants players 1977 births Living people Tucker High School alumni Players of American football from Atlanta Baseball players from Atlanta Utica Blue Sox players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople