Craig Ochs (born August 20, 1981) 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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills in the NFL and was also assigned to the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe in the 2006 season.

Biography

Ochs played high school football at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, where he earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors. He began his college football career with the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

in 2000. At the time, Ochs was considered one of the top young quarterbacks in Division I. After he was sidelined due to a string of concussions, Ochs decided to transfer to the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...

and play for the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

Montana Grizzlies The Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz are the nicknames given to the athletic teams of the University of Montana, located in Missoula. The university is a member of the Big Sky Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding six men's teams ( ...

. In his senior season of 2004, Ochs rated among the top I-AA quarterbacks and led the Grizzlies to the national title game. Going into 2005, Ochs was tabbed as a borderline draft pick. He went undrafted, however, in the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 2005. The league also he ...

. Ochs signed on to play with the San Diego Chargers soon after the draft but was cut on August 25, 2005, before the regular season began. Ochs tried out with the Buffalo Bills during the NFL regular season but did not get an offer to sign with the team. He was also sought out by the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, but held out for another NFL opportunity. Eventually, Buffalo offered Ochs a two-year contract after the season ended on January 9, 2006, as the team's third-string quarterback. The Bills allocated Ochs to the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europa on January 19, 2006. On April 22, 2006, he got his first start for the Galaxy, leading Frankfurt to an 18–17 comeback win over the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games ...

. Ochs led Frankfurt to a 7–3 record and a

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

title in 2006. Ochs suffered an injury in May 2006 and is currently an assistant coach on offense for the

College stats

Pro stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochs, Craig 1981 births Living people American football quarterbacks Buffalo Bills players Colorado Buffaloes football players Frankfurt Galaxy players Montana Grizzlies football players Players of American football from Colorado Springs, Colorado