Niko Koutouvides
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Niko Koutouvides | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | March 25, 1981 (age 26) |
| Place of birth |  Plainville, Connecticut |
| Position(s) | Linebacker |
| College | Purdue |
| NFL Draft | 2004 / Round 4/ Pick 116 |
| Statistics | |
| Team(s) | |
| 2004-present | Seattle Seahawks |
Niko Stelios Koutouvides (born March 25, 1981 to Stelios and Niki Koutouvides in Plainville, Connecticut) is an American football linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. He was selected with the 20th pick of the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft out of Purdue University. He was twice an All-Big 10 selection at Purdue after playing at Plainville and Milford Academy.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Attended Milford Academy, a postgraduate school in 1999. Led team in sacks and finished second on team in tackles. Earned honorable-mention All-State and All-Conference honors at Plainville High. Was the Team Captain and selected as Most Valuable Player.
At Purdue, he started in 32 of 50 games. His career stats include 296 tackles (180 solo), 21½ tackles for a loss, five interceptions, four sacks, four fumble recoveries, and four forced fumbles. In 2002, Koutouvides was named first team All-Big Ten by the media and second team by the coaches. And he was given the Hammer Award for outstanding (outstanding tackler) in the spring season twice. He majored in Organizational Leadership and Supervision.
During his rookie year in the NFL, he played in every game, mostly on special teams, but started the last two games of the season vs. Arizona (12/26) and vs. Atlanta (1/2). Led the team with 16 special teams tackles and totaled 46 stops (38 solo) with one sack at linebacker.
[edit] Personal life
Koutouvides comes from a close knit family, his father is a Greek restaurateur from Tanzania. Growing up Koutouvides and his brothers used to work as a busboys in the family owned restaurant, The Stonewell, located in Farmington, CT. His mother side of the family is from the Greek Islands. His paternal grandfather's side of the family fled during the Greek-Turkish War and settled in Africa as many Greek refugees from Asia Minor did so back then. That's how his father grew up in Tanzania. His parents ended up in Connecticut and Niko attended Greek school in New Britain for six years.
[edit] Trivia
- His favorite team growing up was the New York Giants.
- Tight end Mark Bavaro was his favorite player.
- Dating his highschool sweet heart, Koryne Olson.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
 |
This biographical article relating to an American football linebacker is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles lacking sources from November 2006 | All articles lacking sources | 1981 births | Living people | American football middle linebackers | American football outside linebackers | People from Connecticut | Seattle Seahawks players | Purdue Boilermakers football players | Greek-Americans | Linebacker stubs
