Luther John Elliss (born March 22, 1973) is a former American college and professional football player who was a defensive tackle 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 ...

(NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, and was recognized as an All-American. Drafted in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft, Elliss played professionally for the Detroit Lions and

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 ...

of the NFL. He was a two-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

er. Elliss currently coaches college football, serving as the defensive tackle coach for the

Utah Utes football The Utah Utes football program is a Power 5 Conference college football team that competes in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I and represents the University of Utah. The Utah college footbal ...

team.

Early years

Elliss was born in

Mancos, Colorado Mancos is a statutory town in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,196 at the 2020 census, down from 1,336 in 2010. The town is in southwestern Colorado, at the base of Mesa Verde National Park, and holds the trademar ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
Luther Elliss
Retrieved February 7, 2012. He attended Mancos High School,databaseFootball.com, Players

. Retrieved February 7, 2012. and played for the Mancos Blue Jays

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

teams.

College career

Elliss received an

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 ...

to attend the University of Utah, and played for the

team as a defensive lineman from 1991 to 1994. He chose Utah since head football coach

Ron McBride Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

told him that he could also play on the basketball team under coach

Rick Majerus Richard Raymond Majerus (February 17, 1948 – December 1, 2012) was an American basketball coach and TV analyst. He coached at Marquette University (1983–1986), Ball State University (1987–1989), the University of Utah (1989–2004), and ...

. After one season he decided to play football full-time. He was a first-team All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

(WAC) selection in 1992, 1993 and 1994. As a senior in 1994, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All American, and was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Professional career

The Detroit Lions selected Elliss in the first round (20th pick overall) of the 1995 NFL Draft, and he played for the Lions from to . His nickname during his time in Detroit was "Pass Rushing Luther," and earned it with 324 tackles and 27.0 quarterback sacks with the Lions.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Luther Elliss
Retrieved February 7, 2012. The Lions released him after appearing in only five games in 2003. He played his final season with the Denver Broncos in , seeing action in eight games and registering two sacks. In his ten-season NFL career, he played in 134 regular season games, started 119 of them, and compiled 331 tackles, 29.0 sacks, seven fumble recoveries, four forced fumbles, and four deflected passes. He was a Pro Bowl selection in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

NFL career statistics

Coaching career

Elliss spent two seasons as the team chaplain for the

of the NFL. On February 27, 2017, Elliss was announced as the new defensive line coach for the

Idaho Vandals football The Idaho Vandals are the college football team that represents the University of Idaho and plays its home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho. Idaho is a member of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Cha ...

team under head coach

Paul Petrino Paul Vincent Petrino (born May 25, 1967) is an American football coach, currently the offensive coordinator at Central Michigan University. He was previously the head football coach for nine seasons at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. ...

. Elliss has been the defensive tackle coach for the

Utah Utes Football The Utah Utes football program is a Power 5 Conference college football team that competes in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I and represents the University of Utah. The Utah college footbal ...

team under

Kyle Whittingham Kyle David Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Utah, a position he has held since 2005, and is the all-time leader in wins at Utah. Prior to bec ...

since January 19, 2022.

Personal life

Elliss and his wife, Rebecca, have 12 children – seven of whom are adopted. Three of his sons, Christian, Kaden, and Noah, play (or played) football for Idaho. In 2019, his son Kaden Elliss was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. In the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 202 ...

his son Christian Elliss went undrafted but was later signed as a UDFA by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

. Christian was also

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 secret "Prospect X" for the 2021 draft. In 2022, Noah went undrafted and was signed as an UDFA by 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 ...

. Elliss is a former resident of Oakland Township, Michigan, in suburban Detroit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliss, Luther 1973 births Living people All-American college football players American sportspeople of Samoan descent American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Denver Broncos players Detroit Lions players National Conference Pro Bowl players People from Montezuma County, Colorado Players of American football from Colorado Utah Utes football players