Quantavius "Quan" Sturdivant (born December 5, 1988) 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played as a middle

for the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Tar Heels Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace back to North Carolina's promi ...

. He was considered one of the top linebackers in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC). Sturdivant was drafted in the sixth round of the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

by the Arizona Cardinals at pick number 171.

Early life

Sturdivant was born on December 5, 1988, in

Oakboro, North Carolina Oakboro is a town in Stanly County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,859 at the 2010 census. Geography Oakboro is located at (35.229159, -80.332440). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of ...

, U.S. to Marcella Sturdivant. His father is Terry Watkins of Norwood, N.C. He attended

West Stanly High School West Stanly High School is a public high school located at 306 East Red Cross Rd. in Oakboro, North Carolina, United States. The school is part of the Stanly County Schools district. Its official mascot is the Colt. History In 1962, four county ...

, where he played mostly as a

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 ...

, but also as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. As a senior in 2006, he completed 99 out of 179

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...

attempts for 1,794 yards and 21

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 made 111 rushing attempts for 745 yards. He also recorded 12 tackles, two broken-up passes, and one

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. He was a three-time all-conference and two-time all-state player, and was named the conference's 2006 offensive player of the year. In 2006, he was named a ''Charlotte Observer'' high school player of the week for recording 305 yards, four touchdowns, and 11 tackles in a game. Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming named Sturdivant to his All-Southeast Team.Player Bio: Quan Sturdivant
, University of North Carolina, retrieved June 18, 2009. He participated in the 2006 Shrine Bowl as a quarterback.UNC GETS COMMITMENT
''

Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

'', p. 18C, November 18, 2006. He received scholarship offers from

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Sturdivant originally committed to Florida, but a week later reversed course and committed to North Carolina.

College career

As a true freshman for the Tar Heels in 2007, Sturdivant saw action in all 12 games as a

including five

start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

s. He also played a role on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

. Sturdivant also recorded 47 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, one

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...

, one interception, and one blocked punt. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Sturdivant played in all 13 games and recorded 122 tackles including 87 solo, two sacks, one forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

, and two interceptions for 89 yards and a touchdown. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' named him an honorable mention All-American. For the 2009 season, Sturdivant was moved from weakside to middle linebacker, in order to replace Mark Paschal who graduated. He was moved back to the weakside, however, to recapture his success from the previous year.

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

included him among its 120 Players You Need to Know feature series, and said of him, "In just two seasons ... he has developed into one of the top young linebackers in the ACC." On July 10, 2010, Sturdivant was cited for simple possession of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

during a traffic stop. During the 2010 season, Sturdivant played in the first three games and amassed 27 tackles before suffering a hamstring injury at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

, which forced him to miss several games.

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Sturdivant was drafted with the 171st pick in the

by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

. Sturdivant was cut by the Cardinals before the

2012 NFL season The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowboys ...

began.

Sacramento Mountain Lions

He signed by the UFL's Sacramento Mountain Lions.

Kansas City Chiefs

On November 29, 2012, he was signed to the practice squad of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Washington Redskins

On August 15, 2013, he was signed by the Washington Redskins. On August 26, 2013, he was waived by the Redskins.

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bioNFL Combine profileVeterans strive to lead the way

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 ...

, August 22, 2008.
Kansas City Chiefs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturdivant, Quan 1988 births Living people People from Oakboro, North Carolina American football linebackers Players of American football from North Carolina North Carolina Tar Heels football players Arizona Cardinals players