Cedric Leonard Houston (born June 28, 1982) is an American former professional

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of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was selected by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

in the sixth round of the

2005 NFL draft The 2005 NFL draft, the 70th in league history, took place on April 23 and 24, 2005 NFL season, 2005. The draft was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and was televised for the 26th consecutive year, with coverage on E ...

. He played

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Early life

Houston played football, basketball, baseball and track and field while at Clarendon High School in

Clarendon, Arkansas Clarendon is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Arkansas, United States. Located in the Arkansas Delta, the city's position on the White River at the mouth of the Cache River has defined the community since first incorporating in ...

. He played in the first ever U.S. Army All-American Bowl on December 30, 2000. He held the

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record for career touchdowns with 97 from 2000 to 2022 at Clarendon High.

College career

Houston was a three-year starter at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. He and Gerald Riggs, Jr. became the first players in

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history to both amass 1,000 yards in the same season in 2004. In the 2004 season, he had three games over the 100-yard mark and two games with multiple touchdowns.

Professional career

New York Jets

The

selected Houston using their sixth round pick in the

. Houston struggled in training camp as a thyroid condition, discovered at the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

, caused frequent fatigue issues. He was given medication to treat the condition. Heading into the season, Houston served as backup to Curtis Martin and Derrick Blaylock however, Blaylock suffered a broken right foot in October 2005 thus elevating Houston to second on the depth chart. Martin suffered a knee injury that he played through for 10 weeks before Houston replaced him as the starter on December 11. As a rookie, he finished with 81 carries for 302 yards and two touchdowns in the 2005 season. Houston was involved in a car crash in April 2006 sustaining non-life-threatening injuries. He was later released from the hospital. In the 2006 season, he had 113 carries for 374 yards and five touchdowns in eight games and one start. A day before the start of training camp, on July 26, 2007, Houston left the Jets for what was cited as personal reasons. It was later revealed Houston had decided to quit professional football to return to Tennessee to earn his degree. Houston remained on the Jets' reserve list the entire season and was eventually released on March 11, 2008.

References

External links

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Cedric Houston
at ESPN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Cedric 1982 births Living people People from Monroe County, Arkansas Players of American football from Arkansas American football running backs Tennessee Volunteers football players New York Jets players Dallas Vigilantes players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen