Abraham Winston Wright (born October 15, 1984) is an American former professional
football defensive end. He was selected by the
Miami Dolphins in the seventh round of the
2007 NFL draft. 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 ...
at
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
.
Early life
Wright was a three-year
letterman and
starter at
defensive end and linebacker for
Southeast High School in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a senior, he earned first-team All-District honors with 110 tackles, including 14 for losses and 7.5
quarterback sack
In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackle (football move), tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the l ...
s. In a game against
Guymon High School as a senior, he had eight tackles, a sack, and an interception which preserved the close win.
College career
Northeast Oklahoma A&M
Prior to attending Colorado, Wright played one season at
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in
Miami, Oklahoma. He
redshirted in 2002 while he made the transition from linebacker to defensive end. In 2003, Wright had 68 tackles (38 solo), with 14 tackles for loss including eight quarterback sacks and a pass defensed. He helped NEO to a 10-2 record, the
Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship and a No. 11 national ranking. In a 34-20 win over
Blinn College he recorded six tackles and three sacks.
Wright was named to SuperPrep’s JUCO Top 100 List, ranked as the No. 62 JUCO player overall, and the No. 5 defensive end. Rivals.com named him as the 59th best non-high school prospect.
University of Colorado
After transferring the University of Colorado in 2004, Wright appeared in all 13 games as a sophomore and started the final three regular season contests. On the year, he recorded 23 tackles (17 solo), tying for second on the team in quarterback sacks with 4.5 and had six tackle for a loss. He also had six pressures, which was good for second best on the team. His first career sack came against
Washington State, and his first multi-sack game came against
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
. He set a season-high with five tackles against
Kansas State.
In 2005, Wright started all 13 games including the
2005 Champs Sports Bowl at defensive end. On the year, he accumulated 27 tackles (19 solo), five sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. He earned CU athlete of the week and lineman of the week honors for a game against
Oklahoma State, in which he totaled four solo tackles, a sack, an interception, a caused interception, a forced fumbled and a third-down stop. He reached a season high four tackles on three occasions, and had three tackles in the team's bowl game against
Clemson.
Entering his senior season, Wright was on the preseason watch list for the
Ted Hendricks Award, given to the nation's top defensive end, and was also on the official preseason
All-America watch list by the Football Writer’s Association of America. He played in all 12 games in 2006, taking part in the second most defensive snaps of any player on the team and the most for all non-defensive backs. On the year, he had a career high 57 tackles (39 solo) along with 11.5 sacks, 17 quarterback pressures, a forced fumbled and three pass break-ups. His sack total lead the team and was nine sacks higher than anyone else on the squad in 2006. Wright's season highlights included a six-tackle performance in the opener against
Montana State, two sacks against
Baylor and a personal best three sacks against rival
Colorado State.
Professional career
Miami Dolphins
Wright was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round, with the 238th overall pick, of the
2007 NFL draft. The pick used to select Wright had been acquired earlier in the offseason in the trade that sent
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 ...
Wes Welker to the
New England Patriots.
On November 7, 2007, he was placed on season-ending
injured reserve with a knee injury. He was waived by the Dolphins on May 5, 2008.
BC Lions
Wright signed a practice roster agreement with the
BC Lions on October 14, 2009. He was invited to the Lions' 2010 training camp in
Kamloops
Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...
. He was released by the Lions on June 5, 2010.
Personal
Wright began learning
sign language in the summer of 2004, and has a genuine interest in working with the deaf once his playing days are over. In 2017, Abe Wright became the Community Evangelist for Emmanuel Enid, Oklahoma. Abe, along with
Wade Burleson (Lead Pastor, Emmanuel Enid, Oklahoma), offer a weekly podcast called The WAbe, which can be heard on all podcast streaming services. In 2018, he accepted a Teaching Pastoral position at Council Road Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Abe is married with 4 children. Named Trinity, Bailey, Isaac, and Jacob
References
External links
Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Abraham
1984 births
Living people
American football linebackers
Colorado Buffaloes football players
Miami Dolphins players
BC Lions players
Players of American football from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen football players
Canadian football defensive linemen
Players of Canadian football from Oklahoma