Rico McCoy (born November 6, 1987) 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 ...

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 ...

who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He played collegiate football with the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

and was considered one of the best linebacker prospects available for the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

, drawing comparisons to

Derrick Brooks Derrick Dewan Brooks (born April 18, 1973) is an American former football outside linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brooks played college football at Florida State, wh ...

. Not selected by any team, McCoy was picked up after the draft by the Buccaneers as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

High school career

A native of South East Washington, D. C., McCoy attended St. John's College High School, where he was a three-year starter, playing tailback as sophomore and linebacker final two seasons. As junior, McCoy finished with 120 tackles and five sacks. In his senior year, he tallied 118 tackles, eight tackles for loss, seven sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions while adding eight rushing touchdowns. McCoy captained the East Squad at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. Considered a four-star recruit by ''

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 ...

'', McCoy was listed as the No. 4 outside linebacker in the nation in 2005. He selected Tennessee over

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

College career

• 2009 All- SEC Coaches (2nd) • 2008 All-SEC Coaches (2nd) • 2007 All-SEC Coaches (2nd) and Associated Press (2nd) • 2006 Freshman All-America Collegefootballnews.com (3rd) • 2006 Freshman All-SEC Coaches After redshirting his initial year at Tennessee, McCoy played in all 13 games in 2006, while starting in two of them, including the 2007 Outback Bowl in which he recorded two tackles. He finished the season with 38 tackles and was named to the Coaches′ Freshman All-SEC team. As a sophomore, McCoy started all 13 Tennessee games, and led or tied the team for most tackles in six of those games. He ranked second on team (behind

Jerod Mayo Jerod Mayo Sr. (born February 23, 1986) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the inside linebackers coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Mayo played college football for the Universit ...

) and sixth among

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

leaders with 106 tackles. He also recorded his first career interception against

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. In the

2007 SEC Championship Game The 2007 SEC Championship Game was played on December 1, 2007 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The game determined the 2007 football champion of the Southeastern Conference. The LSU Tigers, winners of the Western division of the SEC, de ...

against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, McCoy finished with eight tackles, a forced fumble and a tackle for a loss.

Professional career

McCoy was signed by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in June 2010, spending the season on the roster as back-up Middle Linebacker to incumbent starter Joe Lobendahn.

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCoy, Rico 1987 births Living people American football linebackers Edmonton Elks players Players of American football from Washington, D.C. Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tennessee Volunteers football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Colorado Crush (IFL) players