William Henry Demps, Jr. (born November 7, 1979) 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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

who was signed by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

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 2002. 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 ...

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. Demps also played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

. He is the older brother of former

NFL 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 major ...

safety Marcus Demps.

College career

Demps was a walk-on who was a two-year starter at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

where he was also a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity. He was a two-time All-Mountain West first-team selection. During his college career, Demps recorded 229 career tackles (135 solo), including 15

tackles for loss Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling are to dispossess an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend. The word i ...

, and five

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s. Demps played primarily on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

as a red-shirt freshman. He majored in Information Decision Systems. Demps posted 140 tackles (125 solo) and one interception as a sophomore in 1999. He recorded his first career interception and returned it 73 yards for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

against

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. Demps also had five tackles, including one tackle for a loss against the Cowboys. Demps started all 11 games at

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

as a junior. He earned first-team All-Mountain West honors and finished second on the team and sixth in Mountain West with 97 tackles (51 solo). He also had two interceptions and led the team with 15 tackles for loss. He opened the season with 15 tackles (ten solo), including three tackles for a loss. Demps started all 11 games at strong safety as a senior in 2001 and earned a second consecutive First-team All-Mountain West honors. He posted 92 tackles, including a career-high 59 solo, along with two interceptions.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Demps went undrafted in the

2002 NFL Draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...

, but was signed by the

where he played from 2002 to 2005. He played in 14 games, starting 10 after making the Ravens roster as a rookie free agent. He recorded 53 tackles, one sack, one forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

and a game-saving interception vs.

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, Demps saw action in all 16 regular season games with nine starts for Ravens and recorded 59 total tackles, two interceptions and one forced fumble. He made his first career post-season start in Baltimore's Wild Card loss to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Demps started all 16 games for the first time in his career, tying for sixth on the team (

Gary Baxter Gary Wayne Baxter (born November 24, 1978) is a former American football cornerback. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the 2001 National Football League draft. He played college football at Baylor. College career B ...

) with 86 tackles, including 72 solo. He also recorded 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one interception on the season. Demps notched career highs with 15 tackles, including 14 solo against the Bengals. Demps started in all 11 games in which he played at free safety for Baltimore in 2005 before tearing his ACL and being placed on injured reserve on December 2, 2005. Before his injury, he tallied 70 tackles and two fumble recoveries, plus seven special teams tackles.

New York Giants

Demps was signed by the

in the offseason. He started all 16 games for the Giants in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Houston Texans

Demps was signed by the

on September 11, 2007. He played in 15 games, starting the last 8 games of the season. He was named an AFC

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

alternate. The Texans released Demps on February 25, 2009.

NFL statistics

Personal life

Will Demps Wet Willies Grand Opening 2010

Demps is the oldest brother of Marcus Demps. He was born in SC but moved to California. He went to Highland High School, located in

Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...

and occasionally works as a model in his spare time. He made an appearance in ex-

Destiny's Child Destiny's Child was an American girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme, formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. After years of limited ...

Letoya Luckett LeToya Nicole Luckett (born March 11, 1981) is an American R&B singer and actress. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a founding member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. As a me ...

's first solo video "'' Torn''". Demps' mother is

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

while his father is Puerto Rican and African American. He lived in

San Diego Bay San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of c ...

and his home was featured in on the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

show Cribs; however, since being picked up by the New York Giants he now owns a home in Northern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Demps can speak conversationally in Spanish and Korean. As a child he also lived on

Mather Air Force Base Mather Air Force Base (Mather AFB) was a United States Air Force Base, which was closed in 1993 pursuant to a post-Cold War BRAC decision. It was located east of Sacramento, on the south side of U.S. Route 50 in Sacramento County, Californ ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. Demps was also the owner of a Wet Willie's chain bar in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California, the first on the West Coast, which celebrated its Grand Opening on October 8, 2010 and featured dishes influenced by his mother's home cooking such as the Seoul tacos. Demps hired a muralist to paint the walls with San Diego landmark scenes including

Unconditional Surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most ofte ...

that stands next to the

USS Midway Museum The USS ''Midway'' Museum is a historical naval aircraft carrier museum located in downtown San Diego, California at Navy Pier. The museum consists of the aircraft carrier . The ship houses an extensive collection of aircraft, many of which we ...

. Several of Demps's celebrity friends attended to show their support, including

Shaun Phillips Shaun Jamal Phillips (born May 13, 1981) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football for Purdue and was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Phillips has also been a member of the ...

and Stephen Cooper of the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, Carlos Emmons (formerly with the Steelers, Eagles and Giants) and Robert Griffith of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. Demps and his friends sported pink scarves in honor of breast cancer awareness month and a few of the slushy daiquiri drinks sported names in reference to the issue including one by the name of "Save the Tatas."

References

External links

Official Website

Houston Texans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demps, Will 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Charleston, South Carolina Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California Players of American football from South Carolina American football safeties San Diego State Aztecs football players Baltimore Ravens players New York Giants players Houston Texans players American sportspeople of Korean descent People from Palmdale, California Players of American football from California