Tommy Gallarda (born May 5, 1988) 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who is currently a free agent. He signed with 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 ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He played

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Early years

He was a three-year letterman in football, track and field at

Brea Olinda High School Brea Olinda High School is a 9th–12th grade public high school located in Brea, California. Established in 1927, the school was originally located across the street from the Brea Mall. In 1989, the school moved to its current location on the ...

. He was selected to the All-Century League team twice both on offense and defense. He was also the Century League Defensive MVP.

College career

Gallarda committed to Boise State on January 4, 2006 during a home visit from

Chris Petersen Christopher Scott Petersen (born October 13, 1964) is a former American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Washington. Previously the head coach for eight seasons at Boise State University, Petersen guided ...

and

Bryan Harsin Bryan Dale Harsin (born November 1, 1976) is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach at Auburn University. Prior to leading the Auburn Tigers football team, Auburn Tigers, he coached the Boise State Univ ...

. Petersen had asked Gallarda "Is there any way to get you to commit tonight?", Gallarda jokingly responded "If

Vince Young Vincent Paul Young Jr. (born May 18, 1983) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons. Young was drafted by the Tennessee Titans as the third overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, and ...

scores the game-winning touchdown." Young scored the eventual game-winning touchdown on an eight-yard run with 19 seconds left in the game to give the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

a one-point lead over

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

which they held to win the

2006 Rose Bowl The 2006 Rose Bowl Game, played on January 4, 2006 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, was an American college football bowl game that served as the BCS National Championship Game for the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured ...

. Gallarda signed his letter of intent to play with Boise State on February 1, 2006. In his freshman year, he played in 3 games, he recorded 3 receptions for 19 yards as a backup tight end. In his sophomore year, he played 13 games in which he had 6 receptions, 65 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns. In his junior year, he played 14 games and started 12 games in which he recorded 9 receptions for 110 yards and 4 receiving touchdowns. On October 14, 2009, in a regular season game against

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

in which he recorded 3 receptions for 15 yards and a touchdown. In his senior year, he recorded 7 receptions, 63 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. On September 6, 2010, in a regular season game against No. 13 ranked

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in which Gallarda had 2 receptions for 4 yards and a touchdown as

wins 33-30. On September 25, 2010, he had a 6-yard receiving touchdown against No. 24

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

wins 37-24.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

On July 26, 2011, he signed with the

as an undrafted free agent. On September 2, 2011, he was released.

Atlanta Falcons

He signed with 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 ...

to join the practice squad. On November 29, 2011, he was released from the practice squad. On January 10, 2012, he was signed to reserve/future contract. On September 1, 2012, he made the 53-man roster. On August 4, 2013, Gallarda was waived with an injury settlement.

External links

Boise State Broncos bio

Atlanta Falcons bio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallarda, Tommy 1988 births Living people People from Brea, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Orange County, California American football tight ends Boise State Broncos football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Atlanta Falcons players