Kusanti Abdul-Salaam, birth name Andy Colbert, (born March 29, 1975) is a former

Arena Football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played for the

Portland Forest Dragons Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oklahoma Wranglers The Oklahoma Wranglers were a professional arena football team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They were members of the Central (1996–1997) and Western (1998–2001) Division of the American Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). Th ...

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

and

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn ...

. He played college football at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Highschool

Kusanti attended John Muir High School. He lettered in football where he played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

, track where he was a sprinter and hurdler, and basketball where he played point guard. He received a full scholarship to UCLA.

Name change

After a 35–17 loss to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Andy Colbert changed his name to Kusanti Abdul-Salaam due to his conversion to the Islamic faith. The name literally means: "He that is servant of Allah, with peace and salvation."

Post career

After college Abdul-Salaam went to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

to play professional football. In Denmark he played Runningback, Wide Receiver, and Defensive Back.

Portland Forest Dragons

Kusanti played for the Portland Forest Dragons in 1999.

Oklahoma Wranglers

Kusanti played with former UCLA teammate kicker Chris Sailer.

Georgia Force

In 2001, Kusanti was the pick in the 2nd round of the 2001 Arena Football League dispersal draft by the

, a new franchise team that year.

Personal

Kusanti graduated with a B.A. in history. He works as a barber and also provides home health care for the handicap. He is currently working to become a professor in history. In 2008, he began coaching for the Pasadena Polytechnical School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul-Salaam, Kusanti 1975 births Living people American football wide receivers American football defensive backs UCLA Bruins football players Portland Forest Dragons players Oklahoma Wranglers players Tampa Bay Storm players Georgia Force players Players of American football from Pasadena, California