Zaviar Gooden (born August 31, 1990) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was selected by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

in the third round of the

2013 NFL draft The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

. Gooden played with the Titans for two seasons in a reserve role, before being released shortly after the beginning of the 2015 season. In the 2016 regular season, he had brief stints as a backup with 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) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

Early life

Gooden was born in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. He attended

Pflugerville High School Pflugerville High School is a public high school located in Pflugerville, Texas. In 2017, the school was a Top-10 Finalist in Reader's Digest ''Nicest Places in America'' contest. Athletics List of sports * Baseball * Basketball * Football * ...

, and played for he Pflugerville Panthers high school football team. During high school, he played as both a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

. Rivals.com rated Gooden as the 32nd best high school linebacker prospect his age, and the 56th best all round prospect in Texas. He graduated from high school with a 3.9

grade point average Grading in education is the application of standardized Measurement, measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentage ...

(GPA). Gooden received athletic scholarship offers from

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

and

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, but chose to attend the University of Missouri. He also spent four years on the

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

team in high school, competing in the 200-meter, long jump (20 ft 5 in), 4 × 100 m relay (42.98) and 4 × 400 m relay (3:21.17).

College career

Gooden enrolled in the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, where he played for coach Gary Pinkel's

Missouri Tigers football The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). History Mis ...

team from 2009 to 2012. Before the start of his freshman season, Gooden made the transition from safety to linebacker. During his first season he was used as backup to the starting linebackers, but played in 13 games, making 30 tackles and forcing one fumble. It was his sophomore season that Gooden became a starter and immediately made a big impact. From the 13 games, he led the team in defense, making 84 tackles and three sacks, breaking up five passes and making two interceptions. He kept up his momentum in his junior season, with 80 tackles, one sack, two interceptions and four broken up passes in his 13 games. His senior season was broken up by a hamstring injury and he played only 10 games, from which he made 61 tackles and a single interception, which was returned for a touchdown versus

Southeastern Louisiana Lions The Southeastern Louisiana Lions and Lady Lions are composed of 14 teams representing Southeastern Louisiana University in intercollegiate athletics, competing in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the ...

Professional career

Tennessee Titans

The

selected Gooden in the third round with the 97th overall pick of the

. On September 5, 2015, Gooden was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, but was waived the following week.

Detroit Lions

On May 2, 2016, the

signed Gooden to a one-year contract. On September 3, 2016, he was waived by the Lions. He was signed to the practice squad on September 21, 2016. He was promoted to the active roster on September 24. He was released on September 26 and was re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was released on October 13, 2016.

Arizona Cardinals

On November 1, 2016, Gooden was signed to the

' practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 18, 2016. On September 2, 2017, Gooden was released by the Cardinals.

Coaching career

Gooden joined LSU as an assistant development coach in December 2021.

References

External links

Missouri Tigers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gooden, Zaviar 1990 births Living people American football linebackers Detroit Lions players Missouri Tigers football players Players of American football from Austin, Texas Tennessee Titans players Arizona Cardinals players LSU Tigers football coaches Coaches of American football from Texas