Shane Michael Carden (born November 6, 1991) 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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, and current Wood River High School head football coach. He was the MVP of Conference USA as a Junior while playing quarterback for

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

in 2013 and the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

Offensive Player of the Year during his Senior year in 2014. After his college career at ECU he was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

as an

undrafted 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 ...

in 2015. He also played with the

Stuttgart Scorpions The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart, Germany. The club's greatest success came in 2007, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Braunschweig Lions. History The Stuttgart Scorpions were formed in December ...

of the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''Ameri ...

, the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League 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 ...

(CFL) and the

Baltimore Brigade The Baltimore Brigade was a professional arena football team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Royal Farms Arena. The franchise was owned by Monumental Sp ...

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 ...

(AFL).

Early years

Carden was born in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

and moved to

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. He attended Episcopal High School in

Bellaire, Texas Bellaire is a city in southwest Harris County, Texas, United States, within the metropolitan area.. Retrieved on January 24, 2010. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city population was 17,202. It is surrounded by the cities of Houston and West Un ...

College career

Carden was

redshirted 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 ...

as a freshman in 2010 after not beating out

Dominique Davis Dominique Dion Davis (born July 17, 1989) is an American professional gridiron football quarterback for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Davis played co ...

. In 2011, he appeared in one game as a wide receiver. After entering his sophomore season in 2012 as a backup, Carden started the team's third game and remained the starter the rest of the season. He finished the season completing 273 of 413 passes for 3,116 yards, 23

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and 10

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 ...

s. In 2013, he started all 13 games, completing 387 of 549 passes for a school record 4,139 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for ten touchdowns. For his play he was named the

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

Most Valuable Player. During his senior season in 2014, Carden set the school record for career passing yards and passing touchdowns, passing

David Garrard David Douglas Garrard (born February 14, 1978) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at East Carolina and wa ...

and

' records. He finished the season completing 392 of 617 passes for 4,736 yards (breaking the previous year's record), 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. For his play, he was named the

Offensive Player of the Year. Carden ended his career with 11,991 passing yards, 86 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.

College statistics

Professional career

Carden was rated the tenth best quarterback in the

2015 NFL Draft The 2015 NFL Draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. The previous ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Lance Zierlein Lance Zierlein is a sports analyst and commentator. He has hosted sports talk shows on KILT 610, KBME 790, KGOW 1560 AM, and KFNC 97.5 FM in Houston, Texas Career Zierlein graduated from Lamar Consolidated High School in 1988. Following high sc ...

of NFL.com predicted that he would be selected in the seventh round. Zierlein said that Carden "Lacks the desired play traits that NFL teams look for, but his production and poise on the move are undeniable and he is a very quick processor on the field."

Chicago Bears

After going undrafted in the

, he signed with the

. On September 1, 2015, he was released by the Bears.

Stuttgart Scorpions

In 2016 after being released from the Bears, he signed with the

of the

. Carden passed for 3258 yards in 14 games and 36 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. He had a 145.8 passer rating as the Scorpions finished with a 7-7 record.

Montreal Alouettes

Carden was signed by the

(CFL) on September 14, 2016, partway through the

2016 CFL season The 2016 CFL season was the 63rd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 59th Canadian Football League season. Toronto hosted the 104th Grey Cup on November 27. The regular season began on June 23 and ended on November 5. ...

. During the season, he carried the ball twice for two yards. He was released by the Alouettes on February 7, 2017.

Baltimore Brigade

Carden signed with the

in February 2017. He relieved starter Chase Cartwright in the second quarter of the first game of the season. Carden then started the next 12 games for the Brigade. He suffered a concussion on July 29 against the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

, and was placed on injured reserve on August 2. Carden played in 13 out of 14 regular season games, starting 12, in 2017, completing 275 of 431 passes for 3,189 yards, 63 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He also rushed for 110 yards and 8 touchdowns. He became the first rookie quarterback since 2011 to throw for over 3,000 yards. On August 23, 2017, Carden was named the

AFL Rookie of the Year 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 profes ...

Coaching career

High school

Prior to the 2019 season, Carden was named the Head Coach at Wood River High School in

Hailey, Idaho Hailey is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, in the Wood River Valley of the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 7,960 at the 2010 census, up from 6,200 in 2000.minor league baseball from 1963 to 1970.

References

External links

East Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carden, Shane 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Newport Beach, California Players of American football from California Players of American football from Houston Players of Canadian football from Houston American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football East Carolina Pirates football players Chicago Bears players Montreal Alouettes players German Football League players Baltimore Brigade players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate players of American football