Bryon Elwyn "B. J." Coleman Jr. (born September 16, 1988) 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 Chattanooga Mocs after transferring there from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. He was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in the seventh round of the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

Early life

Bryon Elwyn Coleman Jr. was born on September 16, 1988. He played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at The McCallie School in Chattanooga. He passed for 1,993 yards and 15 touchdowns his sophomore year in 2004 and 2,203 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior in 2005. As a senior in 2006, he completed 166 of 257 passes for 2,927 yards and 19 touchdowns while also rushing for 241 yards and seven touchdowns. Coleman earned Division II AAA first-team All-State honors his senior year. He set school single-season and career records in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. In the class of 2007, he was rated the No. 10 pro-style quarterback by Rivals.com, the No. 16 overall quarterback by Scout.com, and the No. 90 overall quarterback by

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

. Coleman was also a three-year starter on the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team in high school, playing both

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In bat and ball games ...

College career

Coleman first played

for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2007. He played in three games in 2008, completing four of eight passes for 21 yards and one interception. Coleman then transferred to play for the Chattanooga Mocs of the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is part of the University of Tennessee System. History UTC was founde ...

. He started all 11 games for the Mocs in 2009, recording 227 completions on 401 attempts (56.6%) for 2,348 yards, 17 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He started all 11 games for the second straight season in 2010, completing 215 of 382 passes (56.3%) for 2,996 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions, earning second-team All-

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

honors. Coleman played in seven games, all starts, as a senior in 2011, completing 137 of 225 passes (60.9%) for 1,527 yards, nine touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He missed part of the 2011 season due to a shoulder injury on his throwing arm. His 6,871 career passing yards were the second most in school history. Coleman was invited to the

East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

after his senior year. He graduated with a communications degree in December 2011.

Professional career

Coleman was rated the ninth best quarterback in the

by NFLDraftScout.com. Coleman was selected by the

in the seventh round, with the 243rd overall pick, of the 2012 draft. He officially signed with the team on May 10. He was released on August 31 and signed to the practice squad on September 2, 2012. Coleman became a free agent after the 2012 season and re-signed with the Packers on January 14, 2013. He was later released on September 2, 2013. Coleman was the last quarterback released by the Packers before the start of the season, having beaten out

Vince Young Vincent Paul Young Jr. (born May 18, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for six seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Young was selected by the Tennessee Titans as the third overall pick in th ...

and Graham Harrell. This left

Aaron Rodgers Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears foo ...

and practice squad signee Scott Tolzien as the only quarterbacks on the roster, so the team then signed Seneca Wallace to be Rodgers' backup. On January 19, 2015, Coleman was assigned to the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL). He began the

2015 AFL season The 2015 AFL season was the 119th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

as the backup to Nick Davila but took over as starter after Davila suffered an injury. On May 28, 2015, before Davila had returned from injury, it was announced that Coleman abruptly resigned from the team for a job outside of football. Overall, Coleman completed 61 of 119 passes (51.3%) for 629 yards, 17 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 2015. He was placed on "League Suspension" by the Rattlers on May 28, 2015. He was placed on reassignment on November 5, 2015. On January 25, 2016, Coleman signed with the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He dressed in one game for the Roughriders during the

2016 CFL season The 2016 CFL season was the 63rd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 59th Canadian Football League season. Toronto hosted the 104th Grey Cup on November 27. The regular season began on June 23 and ended on November ...

before being released on August 9, 2016.

Personal life

Coleman's father, Bryon, played college football at Chattanooga from 1977 to 1980. B. J.'s brother, Jarrod, was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

at Chattanooga. Coleman became the CEO of a behavioral health company after his football career.

References

External links

Chattanooga Mocs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, B. J. 1988 births Living people American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Players of Canadian football from Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers football players Chattanooga Mocs football players Green Bay Packers players Arizona Rattlers players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Players of American football from Chattanooga, Tennessee