Simon Fraser (born March 27, 1983 in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

) 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 ...

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 ...

. He was signed by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

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 2005. 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 ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Fraser has also played for 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 ...

. Fraser graduated from the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2015. Fraser is now a surgical resident in Columbus, Ohio.

College career

At the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, Fraser was a three-time OSU Scholar-Athlete selection and a two-time Academic All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

honoree, as well as a co-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

as a senior. He was a member of the

2002 Ohio State Buckeyes football team The 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented Ohio State University during the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was the first in NCAA Division I-A—now known as NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)—histor ...

that won the 2003

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

by defeating the University of Miami Hurricanes in a double overtime game at the

2003 Fiesta Bowl The 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game that was the designated Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game for the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season, taking place on January 3, 2003 at Sun Devil Sta ...

. Inspired by the doctors and nurses at

Wexner Medical Center The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, on the main campus of The Ohio State University. For 29 consecutive years, '' U.S. News & World Report'' has ...

and

Nationwide Children's Hospital Nationwide Children's Hospital (formerly Columbus Children's Hospital) is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care teaching hospital located in the Southern Orchards neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio. The hospital has 673 pediatric be ...

who helped save the lives of his son and daughter (premature twins), he went to medical school at

Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine The Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM) is the medical school of Ohio University and the only osteopathic medical school in the U.S. state of Ohio. Its mission is to emphasize the practice of primary care and train physicians to s ...

to pursue a career in medicine. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2011/06/12/a-healers-calling.html

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

Fraser played in Cleveland for three seasons (2005–2007).

Atlanta Falcons

On March 7, 2008, he signed with the

and was

waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United St ...

by the team on April 28, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Simon 1983 births Living people People from Champaign, Illinois American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Ohio State Buckeyes football players Cleveland Browns players Atlanta Falcons players Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio