Sam Lee-Arthur Sword (born December 9, 1974) 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 ...

player. A native of

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, Sword 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 ...

as a

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 ...

for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

to 1998. He was the leading tackler on the undefeated 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team that led the country in scoring defense and total defense and was ranked #1 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. He led Michigan in

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

for three consecutive years, and his 265 solo tackles ranks third in school history. Sword also played four seasons of professional football as a linebacker and 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 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for 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 ...

in 1999 and for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

from

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 ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. He appeared in 45 NFL games, eight as a starter, and registered 66 tackles.

Early years

Sword was born in

, in 1974. He attended

Arthur Hill High School Arthur Hill High School is a public high school in Saginaw, Michigan, United States. It serves students in grades 9-12 as one of three high schools in the Saginaw Public School District. History The school was named after a successful lumberin ...

in Saginaw. Sword played football,

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 ...

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 tea ...

at Arthur Hill. He played

middle 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, ...

and

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the football team, led the 1991 team to a state championship, and received all-state honors. He was later inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame.

University of Michigan

Sword enrolled at the

in 1994 and played

for head coach

Lloyd Carr Lloyd Henry Carr Jr. (born July 30, 1945) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Michigan from 1995 through the 2007 season. Under Carr, the Michigan Wolverines compiled a record ...

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1995 to 1998. After redshirting in 1994, he started four games at

inside 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 ...

. As a sophomore in 1996, Sword started all 12 games at inside linebacker for Michigan. He led the team with 108 tackles, including 72 solo tackles. As a junior, Sword started 11 games at inside linebacker for the undefeated 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team that outscored opponents 322–144, won the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship, defeated

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in the 1998 Rose Bowl, and was ranked #1 in the final

. He had a career-high 13 solo tackles against Notre Dame and was the team's leading tackler (91 tackles, including 69 solo tackles)(To retrieve Sword's statistics, enter "sword" in the box for the player's last name. To retrieve 1997 season leaders, go to "Games and Totals by Season" and enter 1997, and then enter Display Season Totals.) on a 1997 squad that led the country in both scoring defense (8.9 points per game) and total defense (206.9 yards per game). At the end of the season, he was selected by a Midwest media panel as a first-team linebacker on the 1997 All-Big Ten team. As a senior in 1998, Sword started 12 games and led the team with 127 tackles, including 93 solo tackles. He was also selected as a second-team All-Big Ten player by both the conference coaches and media. He became the second player in Michigan history to lead the team in tackles three consecutive years. (

Erick Anderson Erick Scott Anderson (born October 7, 1968) is a former American football player. Anderson played college football as a linebacker at the University of Michigan from 1988 to 1991. As a senior in 1991, he won the Dick Butkus Award, Butkus Award as ...

led the team in tackles four consecutive years from 1988 to 1991.) In four years at Michigan, Sword started 39 games and totaled 370 tackles, including 265 solo tackles, five pass breakups, three

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 ...

recoveries, 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 ...

. His 265 solo tackle ranks third in Michigan history behind

Jarrett Irons Jarrett Irons is a former American football player. A native of The Woodlands, Texas, Irons played college football as a linebacker at the University of Michigan from 1993 to 1996. He was a team co-captain of the 1995 and 1996 teams and was s ...

(296) and

(286).(to retrieve a list of Michigan's all-time leaders in solo tackle, go to the "Individual Statistical Leaders" section and select the drop-downs for "Career", "Defense" and "Tackles") He was named the 1997 and 1998 winner of The

Roger Zatkoff Roger Zatkoff (March 25, 1931 – November 4, 2021) was an American professional football player and businessman. A native of Hamtramck, Michigan, Zatkoff played college football for the Michigan Wolverines from 1950 to 1952 and was selected ...

Award as the team's best linebacker.

Professional football

Sword was undrafted in the 1999 NFL Draft but signed as a free agent with the

. He appeared in 10 games for the Raiders, five of them as a starter, during the 1999 season. In 2000, Sword joined the

and remained with the club for three seasons. He appeared in all 16 regular season games in 2001 and 2002, principally as a

player, and started three games at linebacker. In four NFL seasons, Sword appeared in 45 games, eight as a starter at linebacker, and recorded 66 tackles and two sacks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sword, Sam 1974 births African-American players of American football American football linebackers Indianapolis Colts players Living people Michigan Wolverines football players Oakland Raiders players Sportspeople from Saginaw, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople