William Starling Poole (born July 24, 1981) is a former American football

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 2004 at the Theater at ...

. 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 Southern California. Poole was also a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, Toronto Argonauts,

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 ...

, Sacramento Mountain Lions and San Antonio Talons.

Early years

Poole was a top high school player at

Christ The King Regional High School Christ the King Regional High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic high school for grades 9-12 located in Middle Village, Queens, New York, United States and established in 1962. It is located within the Roman Catholic Dioces ...

in New York City and a ''

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'' All-American his junior year. He also competed on their nationally ranked basketball team.

College career

He is a University of Southern California graduate whose senior team split the collegiate national championship with Louisiana State University. He first went to

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. Following that he went to Ventura College. Best known for his standout performance against Michigan which included two sacks in the 2004 Rose Bowl (played on January 1) en route to a USC 28-14 victory.

Awards and honors

* Junior College Athletic Bureau All-American (2002) * SuperPrep JUCO 100 (2002) * Western State Conference Mountain Division Defensive MVP (2002) * Ventura College Team MVP (2002) *

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Defensive Player of the Week (November 5, 2003) * First-team All-Pac-10 selection by

CollegeFootballNews.com ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis include ...

, ESPN.com and Rivals.com (2003) * Second-team All-American by the AP and CollegeFootballNews.com * Honorable mention Rivals.com All-American (2003) * USC Co-Special Teams Player of the Year (2003)

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

He was drafted in the fourth round by the Miami Dolphins in 2004. Plagued with knee injuries throughout his career, he played during a promising rookie season and was placed on IR during the 2005 and 2006 seasons then was waived by Miami on December 19, 2006. He tried out for the New Orleans Saints on the weekend of May 12–13, 2007.

First stint with Chiefs

Poole signed a two-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs on July 27, 2007. However, he was released by the team on September 1 during final cuts.

First stint with Argonauts

On October 4, 2007, Poole was signed by the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League and assigned to their practice roster. He was later released by the team on October 10, 2007.

Second stint with Chiefs

On May 27, 2008, Poole was re-signed by the Chiefs. He was released on August 10.

Second stint with Argonauts

Less than a year after being signed to the Toronto Argonauts'

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, ...

, Poole re-joined the Argonauts on September 8, 2008.

Sacramento Mountain Lions

On May 25, 2011, Poole signed with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League.

Personal life

Poole has a daughter, Kayla Poole.

References

External links

USC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Will 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Queens, New York Players of American football from New York City American football cornerbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian football defensive backs Boston College Eagles football players USC Trojans football players Miami Dolphins players Kansas City Chiefs players Toronto Argonauts players San Antonio Talons players Sportspeople from West Virginia Sportspeople from Beckley, West Virginia