Hunter Sharp (born April 25, 1994) 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 ...

wide receiver. 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 ...

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

College career

Sharp was considered a two-star athlete coming out of high school by 247 Sports. Due to minimal scouting coverage in the Antelope Valley area, Sharp attended

Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College (AVC) is a public community college in Lancaster, California. It is part of the California Community College system. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of cove ...

, where he had over 1,000 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns in the California

JUCO A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

circuit. After 2 years at AVC, Sharp committed to

on February 5, 2014.

2014 season

In Sharp's first year at Utah State he played in 13 games and had 66 receptions for 939 yards and seven touchdowns. He also totaled six rushing attempts for 28 yards. This included a trip to the

2014 New Mexico Bowl The 2014 New Mexico Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 20, 2014 at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The ninth annual New Mexico Bowl, it pitted the Utah State Aggies of the Mountain West Conference agai ...

, where Utah State beat the

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

21-6.

2015 season

Sharp was suspended for the first two games of the 2015 season for violation of team rules. In his second year at Utah State, Sharp played in 11 games and totaled 71 receptions for 835 yards and nine touchdowns, plus eight rushing attempts for 20 yards. Utah State was invited to the

2015 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl The 2015 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 22, 2015 at Albertsons Stadium on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 ...

, where they lost to

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

23-21. Sharpe had 11 receptions for 89 yards and one touchdown in the loss.

Professional career

Sharp entered the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

and was projected by many scouts to go from anywhere in the late fifth round to the seventh round, but ultimately was not selected.

Philadelphia Eagles

Sharp signed with 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 plays ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 5, 2016. He was waived by the Eagles on August 24, 2016.

Denver Broncos

On December 28, 2016, Sharp was signed 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 headquart ...

' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the team on January 2, 2017. On September 2, 2017, Sharp was waived by the Broncos and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on October 18, 2017. He was waived by the Broncos on October 28, 2017 and re-signed to the practice squad.

New York Giants

On December 12, 2017, Sharp was signed by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

off the Broncos' practice squad. Sharp caught his first career touchdown in Week 17 on a 16-yard pass from

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the youngest son o ...

. He ended the game with three receptions for 29 yards and the touchdown. On September 2, 2018, Sharp was waived by the Giants.

Buffalo Bills

On September 18, 2018, Sharp was signed to the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

' practice squad. He was released on November 7, 2018.

Cincinnati Bengals

On November 20, 2018, Sharp was signed to the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 28, 2018. Sharp was waived during final roster cuts on August 31, 2019.

Houston Roughnecks

On November 22, 2019, Sharp was drafted by the

Houston Roughnecks The Houston Roughnecks are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at TDECU Stadium. History ...

in the 2020 XFL Supplemental Draft. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on January 13, 2020. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Personal life

Sharp is the cousin of former

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

linebacker

Derrick Johnson Derrick O’Hara Johnson (born November 22, 1982) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned consensus All-American honors twice. He was drafted by the Kansas City ...

References

External links

Utah State Aggies bioDenver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Hunter 1994 births Living people Highland High School (Palmdale, California) alumni Players of American football from Palmdale, California American football wide receivers Utah State Aggies football players Philadelphia Eagles players Denver Broncos players New York Giants players Buffalo Bills players Cincinnati Bengals players Antelope Valley College alumni Houston Roughnecks players