Ronald Bartell (born February 22, 1982) 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

. He was drafted by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

in the second round of the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 23–24, 2005 NFL seaso ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

and

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

Early years

Bartell played safety and receiver for

Renaissance High School Renaissance High School is a public high school in the city of Detroit, Michigan. Renaissance is one of four magnet high schools in the Detroit Public Schools district; (the others being Cass Technical High School, Detroit School of Arts, and C ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, from 1996-1999. He also ran track and played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He caught 23 passes for 385 yards with four touchdowns on offense and had 45 tackles and four interceptions on defense as a senior when he was named All-City, All-Metro and City Defensive Back of the Year.

College career

Bartell began his college football career at

but left the school in 2002 "distraught with the direction the program was going" and stated he went through five position coaches in 2½ years at the school and he felt he wasn't getting any better. He transferred to

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

where he started in 38 out of 45 games and was an administration of criminal justice major. Bartell was a Second-team All-

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

as a senior.

Professional career

St. Louis Rams

Bartell was selected by the

in the second round (50th overall) in the

. On July 29, 2005, Bartell agreed to a 4-year $3.04 million contract with the Rams. In his rookie season he played in ten games making seven starts (after starting right cornerback

Travis Fisher Travis Lamon Fisher (born September 12, 1979) is a former American football cornerback and current coach for Syracuse. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at UCF. Travis ...

was injured) and recorded 34 tackles. In the 2006 season he made 25 tackles and three interceptions. His first career interception came at 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 December 17, 2006. The 2007 season was a career best in terms of tackles made as he ended the campaign with 67, along with one sack and two interceptions. In 2007 Bartell started the first four games in place of right cornerback Fakhir Brown who was on the NFL suspended list. Bartell ended the season starting six games for the injured left cornerback

Tye Hill John Tye Hill (born June 3, 1982) is an American former college and professional football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons. He played college football for Clemson University, and earned consensus All ...

and in between he started two games as the Rams nickleback when the team opened in a five defensive back alignment. In 2008 Bartell again began the season starting at right corner back for Fakhir Brown, who had a broken collar bone and was released and then re-signed. After Brown returned, starting left cornerback

was again hurt and placed on injured reserve. Bartell stepped in and started the final 11 games as the left corner. For the season he played in 16 games, starting 14 and made 56 tackles (46 solo), one sack, three interceptions, 20 passes defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovered. Bartell became 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 ...

following the 2008 season, but was re-signed by the Rams to a four-year, $28 million contract, including $13.6 million in guarantees on March 2, 2009. Bartell fractured his neck during the Rams' 2011 season opener vs the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and missed the rest of the season on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. He was released by the Rams on March 12, 2012.

Oakland Raiders

Bartell signed with the

on March 16, 2012. He was released on December 10, 2012.

Detroit Lions

Bartell signed with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

on December 17, 2012. He was released by the Lions on August 31, 2013.

NFL statistics

Post-Career

Bartell is now the owner of the restaurant "Kuzzo's Chicken & Waffles," in Detroit. He opened the restaurant in 2013. In 2020 he founded "KAHN Cannabis Co." in Detroit. The dispensary is located in the Russell Industrial Center.

References

External links

Oakland Raiders bioRon Bartell profile on ESPN.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartell, Ron 1982 births Living people Players of American football from Detroit American football cornerbacks Howard Bison football players St. Louis Rams players Oakland Raiders players Detroit Lions players Renaissance High School alumni