Terrence Olondo Wilkins (born July 29, 1975) 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 ...

wide receiver and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

. He also played with

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, and was a preseason member of the Miami Dolphins in 2004 and also played with the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

in 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 ...

in 2005. He had 1,466 career receiving yards with the Colts, and was also part of the

Super Bowl XLI Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

-winning team during the 2006 season, beating 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 ...

. Terrence Wilkins graduated from Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

in 1994. Previously, he attended St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

College career

Wilkins 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 Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. After spending his freshman season as a backup running back, he converted to wide receiver. Despite his small size (5'8 and 180 pounds), Wilkins excelled at this role. He finished his next three seasons with 97 receptions for 1,495 yards (5th in school history) and 5 touchdowns, while adding another 1,155 return yards on special teams. In his senior season, Wilkins led the team with 45 receptions for 811 yards, an average of 18 yards per catch.

NFL career

Wilkins went undrafted and signed with the Colts as a free agent in 1999. He served as the team's starting returner for kickoffs and punts, and eventually made it into the starting lineup on offense as well, finishing third on the team in receiving, while racking up a total of 2,089 total yards. This set the record for most yards gained by an undrafted rookie, and made him one of only six rookies ever to gain more than 2,000 yards. He spent two more years with the Colts before being traded to the

for a 6th round draft pick. After spending 2003 back with the Colts, it would be three more years before he would play another regular season game. After a little time on 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 pla ...

roster in 2004, Wilkins was out of the NFL until 2006, when he rejoined the Colts. At 31 years old, Wilkins put up a career high 1,297 kickoff return yards (9th in the NFL) and another 411 total return yards in Indianapolis' 4 postseason games. In the Colts 29-17

victory, Wilkins returned 4 kickoffs for 89 yards and 3 punts for 42. It turned out to be his final NFL game.

Career statistics

References

External links

Terrence Wilkins' Biography
1975 births Living people African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football American football return specialists American football wide receivers Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football wide receivers Indianapolis Colts players Players of American football from Washington, D.C. St. Louis Rams players Virginia Cavaliers football players 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Canadianfootball-widereceiver-stub