Tyler John Lorenzen (Born December 24, 1985) 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 ...

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 ...

. He was signed 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 ...

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 2009. He also played for 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 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 ...

for the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

. He is currently the CEO of Puris Proteins, a pea protein producer based in Minneapolis.

Early years

Lorenzen attended Eddyville-Blakesburg High School, where he led the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team to two state playoff appearances.

Junior college career

Previous to playing at the University of Connecticut, Lorenzen played a season at

Palomar College Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. The largest of these by student p ...

San Marcos, California San Marcos ( ; Spanish for " St. Mark") is a city in the North County region of San Diego County, California. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 94,833. It is the site of California State University San Marcos. The city is bordere ...

. Following his season at Palomar, he was rated the No. 2 junior college quarterback prospect in the nation for the class of 2007 by

JCGridiron.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckm ...

College career

Lorenzen played

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, where he was a quarterback and started 21 games in two seasons for the Huskies.

Professional career

Tyler Lorenzen Tyler Lorenzen victory parade

Although he played quarterback in college, Lorenzen converted to tight end as a pro. After first signing with Jacksonville in April 2009, he moved to the Saints practice squad in September and was with the team for its Super Bowl winning 2009 season. Cut by the Saints in September 2010, he spent several months working in his family's soybean genetics business before the Saints re-signed him in December.Brett Martel
"Locked-out fringe players find ways to get by"

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

at ''

Forbes.com ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing ...

'', June 16, 2011.

References

External links

New Orleans Saints bio

Jacksonville Jaguars bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenzen, Tyler 1985 births Living people People from Mahaska County, Iowa People from Eddyville, Iowa American football tight ends New Orleans Saints players Jacksonville Jaguars players UConn Huskies football players American football quarterbacks Palomar Comets football players