Tiquan Underwood (born February 17, 1987) is an

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 ...

coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for the

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

. 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 ...

at Rutgers and was drafted by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in the seventh round of the

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 ...

. Underwood also played for 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 ...

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 ...

, and

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. T ...

in the NFL. He made his CFL debut for the

Hamilton Tiger Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

in 2015. Underwood is known for his distinctive

hi-top fade Hi-top fade is a haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is grown long. The hi-top was a trend symbolising the golden age of hip hop and urban contemporary music during the 1980s and the ea ...

hairstyle.

Early years

Underwood grew up in

North Brunswick, New Jersey North Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 43,905, reflecting ...

. He played for Notre Dame High School in

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.

. Underwood started as a wide receiver his sophomore and senior years. He was rated as a two-star recruit b
Rivals.com
and only received scholarship offers from Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Maryland.

Playing career

College

During the opening week of the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

college football season for

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

, Underwood was one of four nominees for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week award. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Underwood was named a team captain. After the season, he was the recipient of the Loyal Knight Award, honoring the Rutgers player whose character and dedication have proved resilient in his pursuit of excellence.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Underwood was drafted 253rd overall in the seventh round of the

Jacksonville Jaguars. He was waived on September 5, 2009. He was re-signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

on September 6. He was called up from the Jaguars practice squad on September 23, 2009. He was waived on August 25, 2011, after playing in 10 games in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

New England Patriots

On August 29, 2011, Underwood signed with the

. On September 3, five days after signing with Patriots, Underwood was cut. On November 8, 2011, Underwood was signed to the 53 man roster to boost a beleaguered kick return squad. He was released on November 12 and re-signed on November 23, 2011. On February 4, 2012, the night before

Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

, he was released. He was re-signed to the Patriots two days after the Super Bowl on February 7, 2012. He was cut again on May 3 after the Patriots had signed Jabar Gaffney. On August 23, 2012, he received his own AFC Championship ring.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On May 7, 2012, Underwood signed with the

. He rejoined his former coach

Greg Schiano Gregory Edward Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Rutgers University, a position he held from 2001 to 2011 and resumed before the 2020 season. Schiano served as the head coach for the Tampa ...

. Underwood was released by the Buccaneers on August 31, 2012 even though many felt he had an impressive training camp. On September 20, 2012, Tiquan was signed again by the Buccaneers when they released wide receiver Preston Parker. On October 21, 2012, Underwood caught his first touchdown pass of his career in a losing effort to the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He was released again by the Buccaneers on September 1, 2013 but then re-signed on October 2, 2013.

Carolina Panthers

Underwood signed with the

on March 21, 2014. He was released on August 24, 2014.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On April 2, 2015, Underwood signed with the

of 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 ...

(CFL). Underwood played in 14 games in the 2015 season and then 3 in the 2016 season before being released partway through the season in August 2016. In total he caught 45 passes for 711 yards with 3 touchdowns.

Montreal Alouettes

Underwood was signed to the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

' practice roster on September 28, 2016. In his first season in Montreal Underwood played in 3 games catching 8 passes for 107 yards with one touchdown. Underwood was resigned for the 2017 season. On July 19, Underwood caught 5 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, giving him 1,000 yards receiving in both his CFL and NFL careers. He was released by the Alouettes on October 18, 2017.

Coaching career

Lafayette

Shortly after retiring from playing professional football, Underwood was hired as the wide receivers coach for

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

for the

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season. This was under John Garrett who was his wide receivers coach in Tampa with the Buccaneers.

Miami Dolphins

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Underwood was hired by 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 ...

as an offensive quality control coach.

Rutgers

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

after a season in Miami, Underwood returned to Rutgers where he played his college football as the team’s wide receivers coach under

, whom Underwood played for in college.

Pittsburgh

After two seasons at his alma mater, Underwood joined the staff at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

in January 2022.

References

External links

Carolina Panthers bioNew England Patriots bioHamilton Tiger Cats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, Tiquan 1987 births Living people African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Carolina Panthers players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Jacksonville Jaguars players Lafayette Leopards football coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Montreal Alouettes players New England Patriots players Notre Dame High School (New Jersey) alumni Players of American football from New Jersey Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players Sportspeople from New Brunswick, New Jersey Tampa Bay Buccaneers players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people