Spencer Larsen (born March 4, 1984) 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 ...

fullback. He was drafted by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

in the sixth round of the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

. 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 ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, primarily as a

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 ...

Early years

Larsen earned SuperPrep All-Farwest honors and was named First-team All-State by

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

as a senior at Highland High School in

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located southeast of Phoenix within the city's metropolitan area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was once known as the "Hay Shipping Capital of the World". It is the fifth-larg ...

after recorded 124 tackles as a senior. He was also the All-Region co-Defensive Most Valuable Player.

College career

In 2007 Larsen was a First-team All-

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

as a senior at Arizona after leading the conference with 131 tackles (87 solo) in 12 games (12 starts). He added four sacks, one interception, five pass breakups, four fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. The year before, 2006, Larsen received Second-team All-Pacific-10 Conference honors as a junior after making 89 tackles (63 solo), two sacks (11 yds.) and one interception in 12 games (12 starts). He also had three pass breakups, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles. He was also First-team Academic All-Conference. In 2005, he saw action in eight games (6 starts) as a sophomore and totaled 51 tackles (29 solo), one sack, one pass breakup and one fumble recovery. He also received Second-team academic All-Conference recognition. Larsen did not play football from 2003–04 because he was on a mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. In 2002 Larsen played all 12 games (7 starts) as a true freshman for Arizona and recorded 41 tackles (30 solo), two sacks and three pass breakups and was named Third-team freshman All-America and First-team freshman All-Pacific-10 Conference by The Gridiron Report. He was the defensive MVP of the 2008 East–West Shrine Game.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Denver Broncos

On November 16, 2008, in a Broncos 24–20 road win over 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 ...

, Larsen became the first NFL player since 2003 (and only the fourth since 1990) to start a game on both offense ( fullback) and defense (

). The positions fullback and linebacker both involve considerably more contact than the wide receiver /

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

positions played by other modern two-way players such as

Troy Brown Troy Fitzgerald Brown (born July 2, 1971) is an American football coach and former player who is the wide receivers and kick returners coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played as a wide receiver and ki ...

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons ...

Julian Edelman Julian Francis Edelman (born May 22, 1986) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Kent State as a Quarterback and ...

, and

Champ Bailey Roland "Champ" Bailey Jr. (born June 22, 1978) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs, where he earned consensus All-A ...

. He also played on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

during the game, including the opening

kickoff Kickoff or kick-off may refer to * Kick-off (association football) * Kickoff (gridiron football) * ''Kick Off'' (series), a series of computer association football games * ''Kick Off'' (album), a 1985 album by Onyanko Club * ''Kick Off'' (magaz ...

. Larsen earned Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors for the first time in his career for his performance against the Falcons.

New England Patriots

Larsen signed with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

on March 22, 2012. He was placed on season-ending injured reserve on August 27, 2012 and released from the team on March 4, 2013.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On July 27, 2013, Larsen signed with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

. On August 26, 2013, he was released by the Buccaneers. Larsen re-signed with the team on September 10, 2013. He was released again on September 14, 2013. He was re-signed on September 25, 2013.

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Spencer 1984 births Living people People from Gilbert, Arizona Sportspeople from Mesa, Arizona Players of American football from Arizona American football fullbacks American football linebackers Arizona Wildcats football players Denver Broncos players New England Patriots players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Latter Day Saints from Arizona 21st-century Mormon missionaries American Mormon missionaries in Chile