Chauncey Jamal Tolbert Washington (born April 29, 1985) 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 ...

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in 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 ...

for the New York Jets,

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

. He was drafted by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

Early years

Washington had a heralded career as an athlete at South Torrance High School. In his Senior 2002 season, he earned numerous All-American honors, running for 1,549 yards on 140 carries (11.1 avg.) with 23 TDs while catching 13 passes for 200 yards (15.4 avg.) with 2 TDs in 2002 despite missing 5 games with a knee injury. He also earned substantial notice as a sophomore and junior player. As a Senior, Washington was ranked as the #12 running back in the nation by ESPN.com was aggressively recruited by USC and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, as well as

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, ASU,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, Boston College and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

College career

Although Washington admitted he grew up as a rival-

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

fan, he became USC's second commitment to the 2003 recruiting class in May 2002. That class also included two other highly touted running backs: 2005 Heisman Trophy-winner

Reggie Bush Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...

as well as

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

high school all-star and future USC touchdown leader

LenDale White LenDale Anthony White (born December 20, 1984) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (45th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He has also been a member of the Seattle Seahawks and De ...

. Going into their freshman 2003 season, all three backs were considered to be talented enough to challenge for the starting position and all three played during the USC opener at Auburn. Washington's freshman season was limited by a nagging ankle injury suffered in the second game of the season that caused him to miss half the season and the 2004 spring practice due to a stress fracture in the ankle. He was ruled academically ineligible for the 2004 season and was

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 ...

. Washington was again academically ineligible for the 2005 season and lost his

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

. After considering entering the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, leaving USC or transferring to a different school (with easier academic requirements), Washington was encouraged by his parents, teammates and university staff to stay in school and focus on academics while paying his own way through school. After much focus and hard work, Washington finally regained academic eligibility in the spring of 2006, and regained his scholarship that August. Initially planned as the starting running back for the 2006 USC Trojans, the

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

junior suffered a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

injury in pre-season practice, but had re-gained the starting position by midseason. He told the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

' Gary Klein that he had decided to forego the 2007 NFL Draft and return for his redshirt senior season. Going into 2007 spring practice, Washington's grades again became a concern. At the start of the 2007 season, Washington was again sidelined with an injury and did not play in the Trojans' opener. However, he rushed for over 900 yards and was a Pac-10 honorable mention player.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Jacksonville Jaguars

Washington was selected in the 7th round pick 213 of the 2008 NFL Draft by the

. On June 26, 2008 Washington signed a contract of four years worth $1.6 million. He was waived by the Jaguars on September 5, 2009.

First stint with Cowboys

On September 22, 2009, Washington was signed to the

' practice squad. On October 3, he was promoted to the active roster because of injuries to Marion Barber III and

Felix Jones Felix Jones Jr. (born May 8, 1987) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at the University of Arkansas and was drafted by t ...

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 ...

Marvin White was waived to make room for Washington on the roster. After playing in the team's loss to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

on October 4, the Cowboys waived Washington the following day and signed cornerback Cletis Gordon. He was re-signed to the practice squad on October 6, only to be promoted a second time to the active roster on October 10. He was waived again on October 12 and signed to the team's practice squad the next day.

New York Jets

Washington was signed off the Cowboys' practice squad on December 14, 2009 by the New York Jets. Washington would be waived by the team on September 5, 2010. Washington would later be re-signed to the team's practice squad on September 7, 2010.

St. Louis Rams

Washington was signed off of the New York Jets practice squad on September 28, 2010 by the

. He was waived on October 18 and signed to the Rams practice squad on October 19. He was released by the Rams on August 4, 2011.

Second stint with Cowboys

On November 30, 2011, he was signed to the Cowboys' practice squad. On December 23, he was promoted to the active roster. His only stats came against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

, recording one carry for minus-1 yard and 2 receptions for 13 yards. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bioUSC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Chauncey 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California Players of American football from Torrance, California American football running backs USC Trojans football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Dallas Cowboys players New York Jets players People from Carson, California St. Louis Rams players