Samora Moses Goodson (born October 7, 1984) 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 ...

wide receiver 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 ...

Early life and college career

Goodson was born in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, grew up in

Hayward, California Hayward () is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda Coun ...

, and graduated from Hayward High School in 2002. At Hayward High, Goodson played basketball and only one year of football. Goodson then went to

Citrus College Citrus College is a public community college in Glendora, California. The Citrus Community College District, which supports the institution, includes the communities of Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora and Monrovia. Founded in 1915 by educato ...

, a community college in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

suburb Glendora. Goodson showed medium interest in the

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

schools

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, but none offered him a scholarship. In 2005, Goodson transferred to the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

. In two seasons with the

Southeast Missouri State Redhawks The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks are the athletic teams of Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States. The Redhawks athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and compe ...

, Goodson played in 22 games and had 37 receptions for 439 yards and 4 touchdowns. Goodson graduated in 2007 with a degree in university studies.

Professional career

In 2008, Goodson signed with the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. He spent the regular season in the practice squad and was promoted to the active roster for the postseason, but he did not play in any games. Goodson spent the 2009 season trying out for UFL and

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

teams. In 2010, Goodson played in four games for the San Jose Wolves of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

. He rejoined the SaberCats in 2011. Goodson made 46 receptions for 630 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2011 for San Jose. In 2012 with San Jose, he made 114 receptions for 1,471 yards and 27 touchdowns. In 2013 with San Jose, Goodson made 11 receptions for 134 yards and 1 touchdown. On May 1, 2013, the SaberCats traded Goodson to the

New Orleans VooDoo Louisiana Voodoo (french: Vaudou louisianais, es, Vudú de Luisiana), also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretis ...

. Goodson did not play any games with New Orleans. On March 6, 2014, Goodson signed with the

Portland Thunder The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Ange ...

of the AFL. With Portland, Goodson made 3 receptions for 25 yards. The Thunder placed Goodson on injured reserve on March 25 and re-assigned Goodson on May 9.http://www.arenafan.com/teams/Portland_Thunder-220/transactions/ Goodson later signed with the expansion Los Angeles Kiss on May 22.http://www.arenafan.com/teams/Los_Angeles_KISS-219/transactions/ Goodson made 34 receptions for 458 yards and 6 touchdowns with the Kiss. However, he returned to injured reserve on July 17.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodson, Samora 1984 births Living people American football wide receivers Los Angeles Kiss players New Orleans VooDoo players Players of American football from Hayward, California Players of American football from San Jose, California Portland Thunder players San Jose SaberCats players Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football players Citrus Owls football players San Jose Wolves players Hayward High School (California) alumni