Michael Croel (born June 6, 1969) 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who played 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) and

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

Career

In a seven-year NFL career, he played for 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 ...

, New York Giants,

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

and Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and the

Los Angeles Xtreme The Los Angeles Xtreme was a professional American football team based in Los Angeles, California. The team was a member of the XFL, begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United Stat ...

of the XFL. Croel attended

Los Altos High School (Los Altos, California) Los Altos High School (abbreviated as LAHS) is a WASC-accredited public senior high school located in Los Altos, California, United States, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Los Altos was opened in 1954 and is located at 201 Almond Avenue, close t ...

and

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (LSRHS or L-S) is a public regional high school in Sudbury, Massachusetts, with a 99% graduation-rate. The school was founded in 1954, and the building was replaced prior to the 2004–2005 academic year, wi ...

, he played college football at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

. In 2003, he was inducted in their Football Hall of fame. Croel was selected by the Broncos in the first round of the 1991 NFL Draft. In 1991, he was chosen as the

NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Various entities present a National Football League Rookie of the Year Award each season to the top rookie(s) in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the Associated Press (AP) to be its official ...

and the UPI AFL-AFC Rookie of the Year award. In that same rookie year, Croel recorded ten sacks, his single-season high. In 101 career games, Croel scored one touchdown, recorded 24 sacks, two interceptions and 38 yards.

References

1969 births Living people American football linebackers Nebraska Cornhuskers football players National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winners Denver Broncos players New York Giants players Baltimore Ravens players Seattle Seahawks players All-American college football players Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School alumni {{linebacker-1960s-stub