Junior Seau

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Junior Seau
Date of birth	January 19, 1969 (age 38)
Place of birth	San Diego, California
Position(s)	LB
College	USC
NFL Draft	1990 / Round 1 / Pick 5
Pro Bowls	12
Honors	NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
Statistics	Pro Football Reference NFL.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1990-2002 2003-2005 2006-Present	San Diego Chargers Miami Dolphins New England Patriots

Junior Seau [SAY-ow] (born Tiaina Seau, Jr. on January 19, 1969 in San Diego, California) is an American football linebacker who currently plays for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Seau is notable for his 12 career Pro Bowl selections and 16 seasons for the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins. Seau retired in 2006 for four days, then signed a one-year contract with New England to help their lack of linebackers at the start of the season.

1 High School Years
2 College career
3 Professional career
4 Trivia
5 External links
6 Footnotes

[edit] High School Years

Seau attended Oceanside High School, and was a good student and a letterman in football, basketball, and track&field. As a football player, Seau was a starter at linebacker and tight end. In basketball, Seau was named the California Interscholastic Federation San Diego Section Player of the Year as a senior. In track&field, he was the Avocado League Champion on the shot put as a senior.

[edit] College career

Seau was an All-American at the University of Southern California and was the college teammate of quarterbacks Todd Marinovich and Rodney Peete and defensive back Mark Carrier, and was taken in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft by Bobby Beathard's Chargers as the 5th overall pick.

[edit] Professional career

Seau quickly became one of the most popular players on the team, receiving the nickname "Tasmanian Devil". His well-known "Lightning Bolt" dance (after the Chargers' logo) and fist-pumping after his defensive plays was disliked by opposing teams, but well-liked by fans. He played in 12 Pro Bowls with the Chargers, and missed only two games in his first seven years of play. In every season with the team, he was the leading tackler. In 1991, he created the Seau Foundation, which raises money for drug awareness, child abuse prevention, and college scholarships. Seau also owns a clothing line, Say-Ow, as well as Seau's Restaurant in Mission Valley, San Diego. In 1994, Seau assisted his team to a championship appearance in Super Bowl XXIX, most notably by logging 16 tackles in the AFC Championship Game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In April of 2003 he was acquired via trade by the Miami Dolphins, where he had another strong season. But a torn pectoral muscle in 2004 ended his season prematurely and in 2005 he hurt his ankle to end his season.

On March 6, 2006, Seau was released from the Dolphins because of his injury troubles. His 16-year career includes 1,566 tackles, 1,239 solo, 327 assists, 52 sacks, 76 pass deflections, 15 interceptions, 210 interception return yards, 12 forced fumbles, 17 fumble recoveries, 66 return yards, and 1 touchdown, earning him 12 Pro Bowl invitations.

Seau announced his retirement on August 14th, 2006 after signing a one-day contract with the San Diego Chargers at an emotional press conference. He called his retirement a "graduation", because he was not going to stop working. He contested that he was merely moving on to the next phase of his life. [1] However, on August 18th, it was announced that Seau had signed a contract with the New England Patriots, for an undisclosed amount.^[1]

Seau sustained a broken forearm while tackling Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson for a loss on November 26, 2006. Benson's heel caught Seau's forearm as Seau was making the tackle. Seau has been placed on the IR of the Patriots and it remains to be seen if this will be his last professional down played. On December 8 he said to the San Diego Union Tribune, that he wants to return to football in the 2007 season even though his contract with the New England Patriots runs out after the 2006 season^[2]

[edit] Trivia

Seau's number '55' is famous at Seau's alma mater, University Of Southern California, it has been worn by Seau, Chris Claiborne, Willie McGinest, and currently Keith Rivers. Also, no player on the San Diego Chargers has worn number 55 since Seau's departure.
He owns his own Restaurant in Mission Valley called "Seau's"
Competed for years with Shannon Sharpe for the title of best body in the NFL.