Trey Diller (born March 12, 1990) 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. 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 ...

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

, and 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. T ...

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 2013.

High School career

Diller attended

The Woodlands College Park High School The Woodlands College Park High School is a high school in The Woodlands, CDP area of Montgomery County, Texas in the United States. It is operated by the Conroe Independent School District (CISD), and is one of the six main high schools in the ...

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with por ...

. He caught 59 passes for 1,460 yards and 22 touchdowns, and helped lead the College Park Cavaliers to an undefeated regular season as a senior. He also returned two kickoffs and three punts for touchdowns.

College career

Diller originally played at

Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was founded in 1854. The campus is a national arboretum and one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the America ...

, where he contributed to special teams. He made 5 tackles and also returned a kick off for a touchdown. Entering his sophomore season, Diller transferred from Wofford to

Hunstville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home to ...

, only a few miles north from where he went to high school. In his career, Diller caught 2,117 yards for 11 touchdowns at Sam Houston State, leading his team to two back-to-back FCS national championship appearances. He also returned two punts for touchdowns.

Professional career

Diller was ranked 1st in FCS receivers, 3rd overall in FCS athletes, and 82nd in overall NCAA players. He was predicted to be an early 7th round draft pick.

Carolina Panthers

After going undrafted, Diller signed with the Carolina Panthers on April 26, 2013. He caught 2 passes for 19 yards in the preseason, additionally returning 2 punts for a combined 41 yards, and making 2 tackles. Diller was cut from the team after being placed on injury reserve.

New Orleans Voodoo

After briefly practicing with the Los Angeles Kiss, Diller signed with the

New Orleans VooDoo Louisiana Voodoo (french: Vaudou louisianais, es, Vudú de Luisiana), also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretis ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

on March 5, 2015. He was released by the team before the season due to a reoccurring knee injury. He shortly after retired from football.

Personal life

Trey Diller retired from professional football after reoccurring injuries began affecting his personal life. He briefly coached at Sam Houston State but currently owns his own business, Inspire Productions. On July 17, 2017, Diller was severely injured in a car accident near

Luling, Texas Luling is a city in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties, Texas, United States, along the San Marcos River. The population as of the 2020 census was 5,599. History The town was named after a New York banker, Charles Luling. He was a personal frie ...

in which his truck rear-ended a semi-truck trailer at high speeds. He was hospitalized for several months, while driver, friend, and Army veteran Justin Hartley was fatally injured.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diller, Trey 1990 births Living people American football wide receivers Carolina Panthers players New Orleans VooDoo players Sam Houston State Bearkats football players Sam Houston State University alumni