Travis Kirschke (born September 6, 1974) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. He was originally signed by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1997. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He also played for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

and the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

High school years

Travis grew up in

Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census. Yor ...

and attended

Esperanza High School Esperanza High School (EHS) is a public high school located in Anaheim, California and is part of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. It is a California Distinguished School and is home to various California Interscholastic Feder ...

. He was named a California High School player of the year his Senior season and also won the

Glenn Davis Award The Glenn Davis Award is given annually since 1987 by the ''Los Angeles Times'' to the best high school football player in the Los Angeles area. It is named after Glenn Davis, the 1946 Heisman Trophy winner, who prepped at Bonita High School in ...

for the best high school player in the Los Angeles area.

College career

Kirschke played

where he made 104 tackles and 6.5 sacks.

Professional career

Detroit Lions

Kirschke was selected by the

as an undrafted free agent in 1997. In his rookie season he played in three games making his NFL debut on August 31 against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. He finished the season with one tackle. In 1998, he spent the majority of the season on the injured reserve list and did not get any playing time. The following year, he played a far more active role in the Lions starting line up with seven starts and 15 appearances. He finished the campaign with 20 tackles and two sacks. In 2000, he played in 13 games recording 13 tackles and 0.5 sacks. In 2001, his fifth season with the Lions, he played in all 16 games making 20 tackles. In his final year with the Lions he made 15 appearances and 19 tackles.

San Francisco 49ers

Kirschke signed for the

before the start of the 2003 season. In his only year for the franchise he started in 15 out of 16 games and recorded 43 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Kirschke signed with the

as an unrestricted free agent on March 11, 2004. In his first season with the team he played in all 16 games and finished the season with 12 tackles and one sack. In 2005, he was part of the Steelers team who won

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

and finished the year 13 tackles and one sack. The following year, he made eight tackles and equaled his career-high total of two sacks. In 2007, he finished the campaign with 26 tackles and two sacks. In 2008, as part of the NFL's best defense, Travis had a career-high 46 tackles and 2 sacks, 3 more tackles than he had as a starter for the 49ers.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?playerId=1325} Stats courtesy of Elias Sports Bureau

Personal life

Kirschke is married to Amy and has one daughter, Ella, who is a member of the UCLA swim team, and two sons, Gabe and Blake. He is currently an assistant football coach at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

References

External links

Pittsburgh Steelers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirschke, Travis 1974 births Living people American football defensive tackles Detroit Lions players Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Anaheim, California San Francisco 49ers players Sportspeople from Fullerton, California UCLA Bruins football players Ed Block Courage Award recipients