Sammie Stroughter (born January 3, 1986) 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 ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the Buccaneers in the seventh round of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. 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 ...

at Oregon State.

Early years

Stroughter attended

Granite Bay High School Granite Bay High School is located in Granite Bay, California, United States. Granite Bay High School was founded in 1996 and was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Secretary of Education in 2002 and a California Distinguis ...

Granite Bay, California Granite Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 21,247 at the 2020 census, up from 20,402 ...

. For the Grizzlies, Stroughter played wide receiver, running back, defensive back, and kick returner for head coach Ernie Cooper. As an all-purpose back his senior year, he rushed for 986 yards on 126 carries (7.8 average) and scored 15 touchdowns in addition to catching 31 passes for 618 yards (19.9 average) and six touchdowns. Stroughter also returned kickoffs and tallied 322 return yards as well as 22 punt returns for 395 yards and two touchdowns. For his career, he had 2,321 all-purpose yards. His honors included First team All-Sierra League, first team all-section as a senior, and first team all-metro as a senior by the Sacramento Bee. Stroughter earned two letters in football and three in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

as a 100-meter standout.

Collegiate career

Stoughter played collegiately for the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

. During his time with the program, Stroughter became one of the most honored players in the history of the Oregon State program and one of the top receivers in the Pac-10. He completed his career third at OSU for career receptions (164) and yards (2,653). His all-purpose total was 4,299 yards, fourth at OSU. He owns the fourth-best (1,293 yards/2006) and sixth-best (1,040 yards/2008) single-season receiving yards mark at OSU. He graduated from Oregon State with a degree in sociology.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

In Week 6 of the 2009 season, Stroughter returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

, marking the third time it had been accomplished in franchise history. He recorded his first career receiving touchdown in a Week 9, 38-28 victory over the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He was placed on season-ending

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 ...

with a broken foot on December 21. In Week 13 of the 2010 season, Stroughter caught a season-high all six targets and rushed once for two yards in a home loss to Atlanta. On the Buccaneers' final drive of the game, Stroughter made a spectacular catch on fourth-and-11 that made ESPN Sports Center's NFL Week 13 Top Ten Plays. After Week 2 of the 2012 season, Stroughter was placed on Injured Reserve after injuring his foot.

Coaching career

After 2 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater

, Stroughter was named the head football coach at

Rio Americano High School Rio Americano High School, colloquially known as Rio, is a public high school in Arden-Arcade, California, just outside Sacramento, serving students in grades 9 through 12 as part of the San Juan Unified School District. Rio Americano students com ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

in June 2017.

References

External links

Tampa Bay Buccaneers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stroughter, Sammie 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Vallejo, California Players of American football from Sacramento, California American football wide receivers American football return specialists Oregon State Beavers football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players