Zaviar Gooden (born August 31, 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He was drafted by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in the third round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

. 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 ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Early years

Gooden was born in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. He attended

Pflugerville High School Pflugerville High School is a public high school located in Pflugerville, Texas. In 2017, the school was a Top-10 Finalist in Reader's Digest ''Nicest Places in America'' contest. Athletics List of sports * Baseball * Basketball, Boys * Baske ...

, and played for he Pflugerville Panthers high school football team. During high school, he played as both a

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 ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. Rivals.com rated Gooden as the 32nd best high school linebacker prospect his age, and the 56th best all round prospect in Texas. He graduated from high school with a 3.9

grade point average Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

(GPA). Gooden received athletic scholarship offers from

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, but chose to attend the University of Missouri. He also spent four years on the

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team in high school, competing in the 200-meter, long jump (20 ft 5 in), 4 × 100 m relay (42.98) and 4 × 400 m relay (3:21.17).

College career

Gooden enrolled in the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, where he played for coach

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is a former American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record o ...

Missouri Tigers football The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Missouri's ...

team from 2009 to 2012. Before the start of his freshman season, Gooden made the transition from safety to linebacker. During his first season he was used as backup to the starting linebackers, but played in 13 games, making 30 tackles and forcing one fumble. It was his sophomore season that Gooden became a starter and immediately made a big impact. From the 13 games, he led the team in defense, making 84 tackles and three sacks, breaking up five passes and making two interceptions. He kept up his momentum in his junior season, with 80 tackles, one sack, two interceptions and four broken up passes in his 13 games. His senior season was broken up by a hamstring injury and he played only 10 games, from which he made 61 tackles and a single interception, which was returned for a touchdown versus

Southeastern Louisiana Lions The Southeastern Louisiana Lions and Lady Lions are composed of 14 teams representing Southeastern Louisiana University in intercollegiate athletics, competing in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the ...

Professional career

2013 NFL Draft

Gooden posted good numbers at the NFL Scouting Combine, and during Pro Day he beat all linebackers in every regard except vertical jump.

Tennessee Titans

The

drafted Gooden in the third round with the 97th overall pick of the

. On September 5, 2015, Gooden was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, but was waived the following week.

Detroit Lions

On May 2, 2016, the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

signed Gooden to a one-year contract. On September 3, 2016, he was waived by the Lions. He was signed to the practice squad on September 21, 2016. He was promoted to the active roster on September 24. He was released on September 26 and was re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was released on October 13, 2016.

Arizona Cardinals

On November 1, 2016, Gooden was signed to the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

' practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 18, 2016. On September 2, 2017, Gooden was released by the Cardinals.

References

External links

Missouri Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gooden, Zaviar 1990 births Living people American football linebackers Detroit Lions players Missouri Tigers football players Players of American football from Austin, Texas Tennessee Titans players Arizona Cardinals players