Varmah Sonie (born July 8, 1990) 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 wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

who is currently a free agent. He played college football at

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

Early life

Sonie attended

Apple Valley High School Apple Valley High School is the name of two high schools in the United States: *Apple Valley High School (California) *Apple Valley High School (Minnesota) Apple Valley High School (AVHS) is a public four-year high school in the U.S. city of Ap ...

Apple Valley, Minnesota Apple Valley is a city in northwestern Dakota County in the State of Minnesota, and a suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 56,374 at the 2020 census, making it the 17th most populous city in Minnesota. In 2014, Money.com' named Apple ...

, where he played football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and track and field. As a senior member of the football team in 2008, Sonie played defensive back, wide receiver and was the

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 Eagles, catching in 41 passes, received 36 carries and had 6 interceptions, totaling in 10 touchdowns. His season earned him Minnesota's Mr. Football Award, as well as being named a Max Prep All-American.

College career

Sonie continued his football career at the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gr ...

. As a junior in 2011, Sonie was named First-team All-

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivi ...

Professional career

Portland Thunder

In November 2013, Sonie was assigned to the

Portland Thunder The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Ange ...

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 ...

(AFL). In 2014, his play earned him First-team All-Arena honors.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On December 16, 2014, Sonie signed to the practice squad of the

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) South division. The cl ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Cleveland Browns

On February 16, 2015, Sonie signed a three-year contract with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

of the National Football League (NFL). He was waived on May 11, 2015.

Orlando Predators

On January 4, 2016, Sonie was assigned to the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

Baltimore Brigade

On February 1, 2017, Sonie was assigned to

Baltimore Brigade The Baltimore Brigade was a professional arena football team based in Baltimore, Maryland, that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Royal Farms Arena. The franchise was owned by Monumental Sp ...

. He earned Second-team All-Arena honors in 2017.

Albany Empire

On March 19, 2018, Sonie was assigned to the Albany Empire.

Columbus Destroyers

On March 5, 2019, Sonie was assigned to the

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fol ...

Albany Empire

On July 19, 2021, Sonie was signed again by the

Albany Empire (NAL) The Albany Empire are a professional indoor football team based in Albany, New York. They are members of the National Arena League since 2021 and play home games at MVP Arena. They are named after the defunct Arena Football League (AFL) team ...

References

External links

Northern Iowa bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonie, Varmah 1990 births Living people American football defensive backs African-American players of American football Cleveland Browns players Northern Iowa Panthers football players Portland Thunder players People from Burnsville, Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Baltimore Brigade players Albany Empire (AFL) players Columbus Destroyers players Apple Valley High School (Minnesota) alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople