Benjamin LaShaun Troupe (born September 1, 1982) is an American former college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

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 five seasons during the early 2000s. Troupe 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 ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and earned All-American honors. He was a second-round pick in the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 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 24–25, 2004 at the Theater at ...

, and played professionally for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

of the NFL.

Early years

Troupe was born in

Swainsboro, Georgia Swainsboro is a city in Emanuel County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 7,425. The city is the county seat of Emanuel County. Geography Swainsboro is located near the center of Emanuel County at 32� ...

in 1982.Pro-Football-reference.com, Players
Ben Troupe
Retrieved March 19, 2011. He attended Butler High School in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
Ben Troupe
. Retrieved March 19, 2011. where he played high school football for the Butler Bulldogs.Gatorzone.com, Football History, 2003 Roster

. Retrieved March 19, 2011. Following his senior season, Troupe was a PrepStar high school All-American and was recognized by the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' as one of the top four tight end prospects in the Southeast.

College career

Troupe accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

and coach

Ron Zook Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

teams from

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 ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 89, 97, 101, 143–145, 186 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. He finished his college career with sixty-four

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another ...

s for 958 yards (14.9 yards per catch) and seven

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s. As a senior team captain in 2003, Troupe was a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) selection and received first-team All-American honors from

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

and ''

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 twic ...

''. He was also one of the three finalists for the

John Mackey Award The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, a ...

, recognizing the nation's best college tight end in 2003.

Professional career

The

selected Troupe in the second round with the 40th overall pick of the 2004 NFL Draft.Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
2004 National Football League Draft
Retrieved March 19, 2011. He played tight end for the Titans from to ,National Football League, Historical Players
Ben Troupe
Retrieved March 19, 2011. and was nicknamed "Troupe Scadoop" by his Titans teammates. During his four seasons with the Titans, he made 106

s for 1,056 yards and seven touchdowns. Troupe signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on March 6, 2008. He was released on September 16, after Buccaneers

Jerramy Stevens Jerramy Ryan Stevens (born November 13, 1979) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Washington and was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft. Stevens played for the Seahawks an ...

returned from suspension. Three days after his release from the Buccaneers, Troupe was signed by the

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 ...

. He was placed on injured reserve with a foot injury on October 21, and released by the Raiders on November 17.

Life after football

Troupe is currently a regular weekly guest on B.J. Bennett's "Afternoon Drive" radio show on Wednesdays between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. The show is broadcast on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

103.7 FM – 790 AM from

Brunswick, Georgia Brunswick () is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-largest urban area on the Georgia coastline after Sa ...

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Troupe, Ben 1982 births Living people All-American college football players American football tight ends Florida Gators football players Tennessee Titans players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Oakland Raiders players People from Swainsboro, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)