Spencer Paysinger (born June 28, 1988) 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 wi ...

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, ...

. He was signed by the New York Giants 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 2011. He played until 2017, and in 2018 became a co-producer and actor on the television series '' All American'', based on the story of his life.

Early life and college

Spencer Paysinger grew up in

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...

, and attended

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as Beverly or as BHHS) is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school located on B ...

. He then was made the captain of the football team as a linebacker. He played college football at

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. In his last year playing as a senior on the team, Paysinger was the captain and team leader. His uncle, Carter Paysinger, was the head football coach at BHHS from 1990 to 2009. His father, Donald Paysinger, worked with BHHS as an assistant or head coach for nearly 32 years until 2013.

Professional career

New York Giants

After not getting selected in the 2011 NFL Draft, Paysinger signed with the New York Giants as an

. As a rookie Paysinger did not get much playing time. In 15 games he racked up 12 tackles. He was a part of the Super Bowl XLVI winning team. In the next three seasons with the New York Giants, he racked up 104 tackles in 47 games. In the 2014 season he was able to get to the quarterback for the first time mustering up his first and only NFL career sack.

Miami Dolphins

Paysinger signed a one-year contract with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

on April 2, 2015. He was re-signed by the Dolphins on March 31, 2016. In these two seasons with the Miami Dolphins Paysinger went for a total of 57 tackles.

New York Jets

On June 9, 2017, Paysinger was signed by the New York Jets. Before he could get any playing time with the team in the regular season, he was released on September 1, 2017.

Carolina Panthers

On December 5, 2017, Paysinger signed with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

. He played in three games, before being released by the team on December 29, 2017. He then retired from football.

Television series

Paysingers's life and career served as inspiration for the 2018

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

series '' All American'' where he is a consulting producer and has a minor role as assistant football coach at Beverly Hills High. Paysinger said of the show “It’s immensely important. I know it’s a CW drama, but for the bones of it to center on football, that is something that I take pride in.” The series '' All American'' has gained a massive following in America. It is available for stream on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

;

HBO MAX HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

. At the beginning of each episode it states that the show was inspired by true events and hence Paysinger's life but the show takes creative control and while the main story is based on Paysinger's life the actual details are tweaked.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paysinger, Spencer 1988 births Living people Players of American football from Los Angeles American football linebackers Oregon Ducks football players New York Giants players Miami Dolphins players New York Jets players Carolina Panthers players