Amari Spievey (born April 15, 1988) 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 wi ...

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

. He played college football at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the 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: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

. He was considered one of the top cornerback prospects for the 2010 NFL Draft. He was picked in the 3rd round (66th overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft. On August 31, 2013, he was released by the Lions.

High school career

Spievey attended

Xavier High School A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

, where he played cornerback and running back, and finished his career as the all-time leading rusher in school history. He rushed for 3,606 yards and 50 touchdowns in his career, along with 53 receptions for 858 yards and eight touchdowns. On defense, Spievey made 87 career tackles and 16 interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns. He was a two-time coaches all-state selection and was named the Connecticut Player of the Year as a senior in 2005, the year the team won the Class LL state championship. Regarded as a two-star recruit by ''

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'', Spievey was listed as the #15 prospect from

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College career

Iowa Central Community College

Spievey

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his initial year at Iowa to preserve a year of eligibility. Spievey transferred to Iowa Central Community College after being academically ineligible for his sophomore season. There he recorded seven pass

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 ...

s and 242 return yards. He returned two of those interceptions for

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 Amer ...

s and also scored two touchdowns on

kickoff Kickoff or kick-off may refer to * Kick-off (association football) * Kickoff (gridiron football) * ''Kick Off'' (series), a series of computer association football games * ''Kick Off'' (album), a 1985 album by Onyanko Club * ''Kick Off'' (mag ...

returns and recorded four blocked punts. Iowa Central CC posted 9–2 overall record to earn a No. seven national ranking, and Spievey earned junior college all-American honors.

Iowa

In his redshirt sophomore season at Iowa, Spievey started all games at right cornerback and ranked third on the team with 68 tackles, including 43 solo tackles and 25 assists. He also had four pass interceptions and six pass break-ups. The Big Ten coaches named him Second-team All-Big Ten afterwards. The following year, he was named to the First-team.

Professional career

2010 NFL Draft

By mid-season of 2009, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

's'' Tony Pauline listed Spievey as one of the "risers" for the 2010 NFL Draft. On January 11, 2010, Spievey announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. Spievey was selected by the Detroit Lions as the 2nd pick of the 3rd round (66th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. Although he played

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 ...

in college, Spievey was moved to

by the Lions to take advantage of his tackling ability and instincts. Spievey opened the 2011 NFL season as a starter at safety for the Lions.

NFL statistics

Key * GP: games played * COMB: combined tackles * TOTAL: total tackles * AST: assisted tackles * SACK: sacks * FF: forced fumbles * FR: fumble recoveries * FR YDS: fumble return yards * INT: interceptions * IR YDS: interception return yards * AVG IR: average interception return * LNG: longest interception return * TD: interceptions returned for touchdown * PD: passes defensed

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spievey, Amari 1988 births Living people Players of American football from Connecticut American football cornerbacks American football safeties Iowa Hawkeyes football players Detroit Lions players Iowa Central Tritons football players Sportspeople from Middletown, Connecticut