Rabih Abdullah (born April 27, 1975) 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 ...

High school years

Abdullah grew up in

Roselle, New Jersey Roselle (, ) is a borough located in Union County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 21,085,Abraham Clark High School Abraham Clark High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from the borough of Roselle, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Roselle Public S ...

Rabih Abdullah profile
, databasefootball.com; accessed March 12, 2008. High school listed as "Barham Clark (Roselle, NJ)" and was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he was a starter as a running back and as a defensive back, and was an All-County selection, All-Conference selection, and an All-State selection.

College career

Abdullah played for Lehigh University from 1993-97. In 1995, as a junior, he rushed for 1,536 yards, setting the school's single-season rushing record as Lehigh finished 8-3 and won the Patriot League. He set the school record for rushing yards in a single game, with 266 yards on the ground in a 34-23 victory over Colgate. 1996, which would have been his senior season, was cut short by a serious knee injury, but he was able to secure a medical redshirt, and return for a fifth season. His final season at Lehigh was in 1997, when he rushed for a total of 1,225 yards, earning the Archibald Cup, which is awarded annually to Lehigh's most outstanding player. In his final collegiate game, against arch-rival Lafayette, his efforts in a 43-31 Lehigh victory earned him the rivalry's annual Most Outstanding Player Award. He finished his career with a total of 3,696 yards on the ground, a school record.

Professional career

Abdullah was signed in 1998 as an undrafted free agent by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, where he played mostly special teams, starting one game at running back before being released following the 2001 season. He signed with the Chicago Bears for 2002, but was released just before the beginning of the 2004 season. He signed with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

just after the season began, was released in November, and re-signed shortly before Christmas. That re-signing meant that he was a member of the Patriots for

Super Bowl XXXIX Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League ( ...

, becoming just the second Lehigh graduate to play in the game (the first was

Steve Kreider Steve Kreider (born May 12, 1958) is an American football quarterback and a wide receiver who played eight seasons in the National Football League for the Cincinnati Bengals. History Kreider was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He attended Sch ...

, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals in

Super Bowl XVI Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, Rabih 1975 births Living people Abraham Clark High School alumni People from Martinsville, Virginia American football fullbacks Lehigh Mountain Hawks football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Chicago Bears players New England Patriots players People from Roselle, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Union County, New Jersey Players of American football from Virginia