Casey FitzSimmons (born October 10, 1980) 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 ...

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 ...

who played for 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 ...

of 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).

Early life

FitzSimmons attended Chester High School in

Chester, Montana Chester is a town in and the county seat of Liberty County, Montana, Liberty County, Montana, United States. The population was 847 at the time of both the 2010 and 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. History The Blackfoot, Piegan Blac ...

and was an All-Conference, and an All-State honoree. He played four positions—wide receiver, tight end, defensive end and linebacker. The high school he attended was so small that the football team played eight-man football. Prior to his junior year in high school, he was injured in a motorbike accident and missed the season. He was close to not playing his senior year, but was talked into it by some friends.

College career

FitzSimmons attended

Carroll College Carroll College is a private Catholic college in Helena, Montana. The college has 21 buildings on a 63-acre campus, has over 35 academic majors, participates in 15 NAIA athletic sports, and is home to All Saints Chapel. The college motto, in L ...

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat, seat of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold ...

. He finished his college career with 244 receptions for 2,698 yards and 21 touchdowns. His 2001 totals included 78 receptions for 812 yards and five touchdowns and his 2000 totals included 70 catches for 686 yards and eight touchdowns. Also in 2000 and 2001, he earned second-team NAIA All-American honors and was a first-team All-Conference selection all four seasons at Carroll College. He led the Fighting Saints to the 2002 NAIA National Championship with a 28–7 win over the two-time defending NAIA Champion Georgetown (Ky.). During his senior championship run, earned first-team All-American honors and was named the Frontier Conference MVP and finalist for the NAIA Player of the Year Award while catching 79 passes for 971 yards and six touchdowns.

Professional career

FitzSimmons was undrafted in 2003. He then signed with the Detroit Lions. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown to seal the Lions' win over the Chicago Bears on September 30, 2007. The return made FitzSimmons the heaviest player in NFL history to return a kickoff for a touchdown. On April 14, 2010, FitzSimmons retired from the NFL.

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzsimmons, Casey 1980 births Living people American football tight ends Carroll Fighting Saints football players Detroit Lions players People from Wolf Point, Montana People from Chester, Montana Players of American football from Montana