Spencer Adkins (born May 16, 1987) 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 ...

. Adkins 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 ...

and was selected by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

in the sixth round of

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 ...

Early years

Adkins was born to Lester and Mable Adkins and attended

Naples High School Naples High School is a secondary education school located in Naples, Florida, and is one of eight public high schools located in Collier County. Naples High School is part of the District School Board of Collier County. Academics Athletic ...

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...

and played for the Golden Eagles football team under Bill Kramer. In fact, Adkins didn't begin playing until high school. He started playing on varsity as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

as a sophomore, but the next year, moved up to linebacker and had 80 tackles and 12 sacks as Naples reached the state championship game. As a senior in 2004, he made 11 sacks (four in one game) and 19 tackles for a loss. He was awarded the ''

Naples Daily News The ''Naples Daily News'' is the main daily newspaper of Naples, Florida, and Collier County. It is owned by Gannett and has a circulation of more than 40,000. It was previously owned by Milwaukee-based Journal Media Group, which was formed by a ...

'' Broxson Trophy for best area player, and was All-State. He was a four-star recruit and signed to the

College career

Adkins saw action in 31 collegiate games at the

. He totaled 72 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five sacks and one interception. In 2007, he recorded a career-high 52 tackles. He majored in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Professional career

Signed with agent Ken Sarnoff. Adkins was selected by the Falcons in the sixth round of

.Adkins Taken on Day Two of 2009 NFL Draft
and signed on June 24. However, his contract was disapproved by the NFL because of "language oversight" relating to team incentives and individual "not likely to be earned" incentives. Adkins was one of the five previous defensive selections in the 2009 Draft by the Falcons and was the first linebacker taken by the team. Adkins boosted his stock by a solid performance at Miami's Pro Day: he ran 40 yards in 4.43 seconds, broad jumped 10-2, vertical jumped 36 inches and bench pressed 225 pounds a total of 30 times.

References

External links

Atlanta Falcons bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adkins, Spencer 1987 births Living people Naples High School alumni Sportspeople from Naples, Florida American football linebackers Miami Hurricanes football players Atlanta Falcons players Baltimore Ravens players New York Giants players Players of American football from Florida