Sean Ryan Christopher Spence (born June 7, 1990) 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 ...

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 ...

. He was drafted by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

in the third round of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. 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 the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, where he was named 2008

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

Defensive Rookie of the Year. Spence has also been a member of the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

and

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 ...

High school career

Miami Northwestern High School Miami Northwestern Senior High School is a public four-year high school located in Miami, Florida, United States History Academics Northwestern has long been known for its academic challenges; however, the school has shown an unprecedented ...

, Spence was part of the 2007

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

team as chosen by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. His teammates included

Lavonte David Lavonte Lamar David (born January 23, 1990) is an American football linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Nebraska, and was drafted by the Buccaneers in ...

Marcus Forston Marcus Forston (born September 28, 1989) is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. Forston was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He played college football for the University ...

Jacory Harris Jacory Sherrod Harris (born May 12, 1990) is a former Canadian football quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and a current firefighter in Miami for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Harris started ...

Tommy Streeter Tommy Streeter, Jr. (born October 7, 1989) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at the University of Miami and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft, with whom he won Sup ...

, and

Brandon Washington Brandon Washington (born August 13, 1988) is a former American football offensive tackle and current coach. He has played for the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL), the St. Louis Rams and Philadelph ...

. As a senior, made more than 100

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 ...

, with three

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...

s, two interceptions (one for a TD). As a junior in 2006, made 147 tackles, 10 for losses, with two interceptions (one for a touchdown) and three sacks. Spence played in the inaugural

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the U.S. state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game was first played on January 5, ...

. 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 ...

'', Spence was listed as the No. 13 outside linebacker in the nation.

College career

Playing as a

true freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

, Spence was a starter in Miami’s final eight games, and ranked third on the team with 62 tackles to go along with 7.5 tackles for loss, and a pair of sacks. He was named to ''College Football News′'' All-Freshman first team, as well as ''Rivals.com′s'' 2008 Freshman All-America team. Four weeks into the 2010 season, Spence had team-highs in tackles (38) and tackles for loss (6.5) in only four games. At the end of the 2011 season, Spence earned first-team All-ACC recognition for the 2011 season. The senior captain, who tied for fifth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 106 total tackles in 2011, ended the year second among all NCAA players with 47 career tackles for loss, including 14.0 in 2011. A semifinalist for the Butkus Award, Spence averaged 9.64 tackles per game (fourth in conference) and 1.27 tackles for loss per game (third in conference) in 2011. He finished the season with three sacks, one pass break-up and one forced fumble.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

The

selected Spence in the third round (86th overall) of the

. He was the 11th linebacker selected in 2012. On May 29, 2012, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Spence to a four-year, $2.70 million contract. He suffered a serious knee injury during the preseason and was declared out for the entire 2012 season. On August 25, 2013, the Steelers placed Spence on the Reserve/Physically Unable To Perform (PUP) List. Three weeks after being taken off of the PUP list, the Steelers placed Spence on injured reserve, ending his injury-ridden 2013 season. Sean Spence finished the 2014 season with 53 tackles and 1 sack for the Steelers, finishing with a record of 11–5 and winning the

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL s ...

Division. Spence, who missed one game and didn't finish two due to hamstring injuries, had 37 tackles and a sack as the Steelers completed the 2015 regular season with a 10–6 mark. The Steelers won their first round playoff game against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

before dropping the next to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Tennessee Titans

On March 16, 2016, the

signed Spence to a one-year, $2.5 million contract, reuniting him with former Steelers defensive coordinator

Dick LeBeau Charles Richard "Dick" LeBeau ( ; born September 9, 1937) is a former American football cornerback and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was active with the NFL for 59 consecutive seasons, 14 as a player with the Detroit Lions and ...

. Spence finished the 2016 season with 50 tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble.

Indianapolis Colts

On March 19, 2017, Spence signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the

. On September 2, 2017, the Colts released Spence as part of the final roster cuts. He was re-signed on September 13, 2017. He was released again on October 3, 2017.

Pittsburgh Steelers (second stint)

On December 5, 2017, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Spence to a one-year, $775,000 contract after injuries to

Ryan Shazier Ryan Dean Shazier (; born September 6, 1992) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Ohio State and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Shazier had a successful fi ...

and Tyler Matakevich.

References

External links

NFL Combine bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Sean 1990 births Living people Miami Northwestern Senior High School alumni Players of American football from Miami American football linebackers Miami Hurricanes football players Pittsburgh Steelers players Tennessee Titans players Indianapolis Colts players Ed Block Courage Award recipients