Chris Rumph II (born October 19, 1998) is an

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 wit ...

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pla ...

for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...

and was drafted by the Chargers in the fourth round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early life and high school

Rumph moved often during his early life due his father's career as a football coach. He moved to

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

and transferred to

Buchholz High School F. W. Buchholz High School (commonly referred to as Buchholz (pronounced ) or BHS) is a high school in Gainesville, Florida, United States. Buchholz is one of seven high schools in Alachua County. Opened in January 1971, it is the largest public h ...

before his sophomore year. As a senior, he was named first-team All-State and the Big School Player of the Year by ''

The Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the edi ...

'' after recording 105 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, two blocked punts, one interception and two fumble recoveries. Rumph committed to play college football at

over offers from UCF, Vanderbilt, and

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

College career

Rumph

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 ...

his true freshman season. As a redshirt freshman, he recorded 25 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, one fumble recovery, and one pass broken up and was named a freshman All-American by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

''. Rumph posted 47 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, three pass breakups, 11 quarterback hurries and one forced fumble and was named third-team All- Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and First-team All-America by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

and Second-team All-America by Sports Illustrated.

Professional career

Rumph was drafted by the

in the fourth round, 118th overall, of the

. On May 18, 2021, Rumph signed his four-year rookie contract with the Chargers.

Personal life

Rumph's father,

Chris Rumph Chris Rumph (born December 21, 1971) is an American football coach who is currently the defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He most recently served as the defensive line coach for the Chicago Bears of t ...

, played linebacker at

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = G ...

and has coached at the collegiate and professional levels and is currently the defensive line coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

References

External links

Duke Blue Devils bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumph, Chris II 1998 births Living people Players of American football from Gainesville, Florida American football linebackers Duke Blue Devils football players African-American players of American football Los Angeles Chargers players 21st-century African-American sportspeople