Christopher L. Hoke (born April 6, 1976) 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 ...

defensive lineman 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 ...

. He spent his entire eleven-year professional career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

High school years

Hoke attended Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California, and won three varsity letters each in football and track and field. In football, he was a three-time All-League honoree, a two-time All-CIF honoree, and a two-time All-County honoree. As a senior, he was also named the League Defensive Player of the Year and helped lead his team to the CIF quarterfinals. In track and field, he was a three-time League Champion, and a three-time CIF Meet participant. Hoke graduated from Foothill High School in 1994.

College career

Hoke's college career was put on hold for a 2-year mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Hoke played college football at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

, where he finished his collegiate career with 141 tackles and 14 sacks. He majored in communications.

Professional career

Hoke was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent after the 2001 NFL Draft. For the first three years of his Steelers career, he was inactive for the majority of time and did not get any playing time. In 2004, Hoke totaled 24 tackles and 1 sack after taking over the starting

nose tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...

position for the injured

Casey Hampton Casey Hampton Jr. (born September 3, 1977) is a former American football nose tackle who played twelve seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Texas, and receiv ...

six games into the season. In 2005, he recorded six tackles and was also part of the Steelers team that won

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

where he also recorded a tackle. The following season, he played in all 16 games and finished the season with 12 tackles. On June 21, 2007, he signed a 3-year extension through 2010. He finished the 2007 season with six tackles and 0.5 sacks. Hoke started his first game of the 2008 season in Pittsburgh's

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

game against the Ravens, in Week Four of the 2008 season. Hoke announced his retirement on January 25, 2012. He spent his entire 11-year professional career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Broadcasting career

In 2015, Hoke replaced fellow ex-lineman Edmund Nelson as the Steelers post-game analyst on

KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division a ...

.Former Steelers Charlie Batch and Chris Hoke join KDKA-TV broadcasts
Steelers.com (05/05/2015)

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoke, Chris 1976 births American football defensive tackles BYU Cougars football players Living people Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Long Beach, California Latter Day Saints from California American Mormon missionaries in Belgium American Mormon missionaries in France