Clinton Glenn Hart (born July 20, 1977) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

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 ...

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) for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

, and

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

. He also was a member of the

Tallahassee Thunder The Tallahassee Thunder were an arena football team based in Tallahassee, Florida. They were inaugural members of the af2, the Arena Football League's developmental league. They played for three seasons from 2000 to 2002, when they folded. They ...

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

Rhein Fire Rhein Fire may refer to either of two American football franchises: * Rhein Fire (NFL Europe) The Rhein Fire were a professional football team in the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Düsseldorf, Germany ...

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, t ...

and

Omaha Nighthawks The Omaha Nighthawks were a professional American football team based in Omaha, Nebraska, which played in the United Football League (2009–2012), United Football League, joining the league as an expansion team in 2010 UFL season, 2010. During ...

of the United Football League (UFL). He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at Central Florida.

Early years

Hart attended South Sumter, where he practiced football and baseball. In football, he was the team's starter at quarterback and safety. Because of his SAT low score, he didn't receive football college scholarships offers except for an interest to play college football at Central Florida, he turned it downed instead deciding to play

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 ...

at Central Florida. He did not play

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 ...

. He was selected by the

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

in the 32nd round of the

2000 Major League Baseball Draft The 2000 Major League Baseball draft, was the annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held in June 2000. A total of 1,452 players were drafted. First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins ...

Professional career

Tampa Bay Storm

After spending the 2000 season with the

of the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

, Hart played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

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 ...

for 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 ...

in 2001. He finished his only season in the AFL recording three

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team bu ...

and 69 tackles on

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and 24 receptions for 242 yards and touchdown on offense.

Philadelphia Eagles

After success in the AFL, the

signed Hart to a contract in 2002 and allocated him to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

, where he played for the

and

. He spent the final six weeks of the season on the Eagles

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

. In 2003, Hart was able to make the roster and started 9 games at safety due to an injury to starter

Brian Dawkins Brian Patrick Dawkins Sr. (born October 13, 1973), nicknamed "Weapon X", is an American former professional football player who was a safety for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. He played ...

. On September 14, 2004, the Eagles waived him.

San Diego Chargers

On September 15, 2004, Hart was claimed off waivers by the

. Hart played in 14 games for the Chargers in 2004 and was tied with Hanik Milligan for the team lead with in special teams tackles with 15. In 2005, Hart started 5 of 16 games and recorded 45 tackles and an interception. He also scored two

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

on an interception return and an interception by

Donnie Edwards Donnie Lewis Edwards Jr. (born April 6, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. He played college foo ...

who lateralled to him for the score. In 2006, he started one of 16 games, recording 48 tackles and three interceptions. In 2007, Hart became the Chargers full-time starter at strong safety, starting all 16 games. He finished the season recording a career-high five interceptions and 85 tackles. On April 7, 2008, the Chargers signed Hart to a five-year extension through 2012. During the 2008 season, he remained the Chargers starter at strong safety, starting in all 14 games he played. He finished the season with 63 tackles and 0 interceptions. Hart was cut from the Chargers on October 14, 2009.

St. Louis Rams

Hart was signed by the

on December 8, 2009. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

On April 28, 2010, it was reported he was arrested for the battery of his wife after she discovered a female chatting with him on Facebook. In 2017, Hart took the position of Defensive Coordinator at Ocala Christian Academy in Ocala, Florida. His younger brother,

Keanu Neal Keanu Neal (born July 26, 1995) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Atlanta Falcons. He played college football for the Florida Gators ...

, played college football at

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...

as a safety and was a 2016 NFL draft prospect selected #17 overall by the Atlanta Falcons.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Clinton 1977 births Living people People from Dade City, Florida Players of American football from Pasco County Florida Baseball players from Pasco County, Florida American football safeties Tampa Bay Storm players Amsterdam Admirals players Philadelphia Eagles players San Diego Chargers players St. Louis Rams players Omaha Nighthawks players College of Central Florida Patriots baseball players