Jimmy Spencer (American football)

James Arthur Spencer, Jr. (born March 29, 1969) is an American former college and professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Spencer played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New Orleans Saints, Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos of the NFL.

Jimmy Spencer
No. 37, 22, 33
Position:Cornerback
Personal information
Born: (1969-03-29) March 29, 1969
Manning, South Carolina
Height:5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight:188 lb (85 kg)
Career information
High school:Glades Central
(Belle Glade, Florida)
College:Florida
NFL Draft:1991 / Round: 8 / Pick: 215
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career NFL statistics
Games played:177
Games started:81
Tackles:418
Interceptions:26
Fumbles recovered:8
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early years

Spencer was born in Manning, South Carolina.[1] He attended Glades Central High School in Belle Glade, Florida,[2] and he played high school football for the Glades Central Raiders.

College career

Spencer accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Galen Hall and coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football teams from 1988 to 1990.[3] In 1990, he blocked a punt late in the fourth quarter, which Richard Fain recovered and returned twenty-five yards for a touchdown and providing the margin of victory in the Gators' 17–13 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[4] Spencer decided to forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility after his junior season in 1990, and made himself eligible for the NFL Draft.

Professional career

The Washington Redskins selected Spencer in the eighth round (215th pick overall) of the 1991 NFL Draft.[5] Spencer played for the New Orleans Saints from 1992 to 1995, the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996 and 1997, the San Diego Chargers in 1998 and 1999, and the Denver Broncos from 2000 to 2003.[6] Statistically, his best seasons were 1994, 1995 and 1996, when he was a regular starter for New Orleans and then Cincinnati.[1]

In his twelve NFL seasons, Spencer played in 177 regular season games, and started eighty-one of them.[1] He finished his NFL career with twenty-six interceptions, two touchdown returns, eight fumble recoveries and one fumble recovery for a touchdown.[1]

In 2003, Spencer worked as an assistant defensive back coach with the Broncos in addition to playing, making him the first simultaneous player/coach in the NFL since Dan Reeves in 1972.

gollark: The Doom Collider
gollark: Suggested xkcd telescope names: The Very Large Telescope ☑ The Extremely Large Telescope ☑ The Overwhelmingly Large Telescope ☑ (Canceled) The Oppressively Colossal Telescope ☐ The Mind-numbingly Vast Telescope ☐ The Despair Telescope ☐ The Cataclysmic Telescope ☐ The Telescope of Devastation ☐ The Nightmare Scope ☐ The Infinite Telescope ☐ The Final Telescope ☐ I propose these names for colliders:The Oppressively Colossal Collider
gollark: Future Circular Collider is an awful name.
gollark: Modern computers are theoretically a few thousand times faster but thanks to the power of bloatware mostly run at the same apparent speeds.
gollark: Well, everything was worse in the bad old days.

See also

References
  1. Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Jimmy Spencer. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  2. databaseFootball.com, Players, Jimmy Spencer Archived February 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  3. 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 105, 110, 115, 185 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  4. Norm Carlson, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, p. 107 (2007).
  5. Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, 1991 National Football League Draft. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  6. National Football League, Historical Players, Jimmy Spencer. Retrieved October 11, 2010.

Bibliography
  • Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
  • Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
  • Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
  • McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
  • Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X
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