Corey Vincent Croom (born May 22, 1971) is a former

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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

who played three seasons with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

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 Ball State University and attended Sandusky High School in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo ( west) and Cleveland ( east). Accord ...

Early years

Croom lettered two seasons in football and three seasons in track and field at Sandusky High School. He earned

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

all-state honors his senior year after helping the team win the UPI state championship. He was also named All-Erie Shore Conference, all-district, and Erie Shore Conference Player of the Year.

College career

Croom played football for the

Ball State Cardinals The Ball State Cardinals are the athletic teams that represent Ball State University, located in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals are part of the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. Charlie Cardinal is the team mascot. The Ball State Univers ...

. He won the

John Magnabosco John V. Magnabosco (1905 – October 15, 1956) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Ball State Teachers College—now known as Ball State University—from 1935 to 1952, compiling a record of 68–46� ...

Award for being the Cardinals' most valuable player in 1992. He was a two-time

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twe ...

first-team selection. He recorded 2,725 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns in his college career. Croom led NCAA Division I football with 301 rushing attempts in 1992.

Professional career

Croom was signed by the

of the NFL on April 30, 1993 after going undrafted in the

1993 NFL draft The 1993 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot M ...

. He was released by the Patriots on August 30, 1993 and signed to the team's practice squad on August 31, 1993. He appeared in 43 games for the Patriots from 1993 to 1995. He scored one touchdown (December 26, 1993) against the Colts n a 5 yard run. After not carrying the ball all season in 1994, Croom was a surprise starter in the Patriots 20-13 wild card loss against the Browns on January 1, 1995. Croom played admirably, carrying the ball 9 times for 35 yards and catching one pass for 5 yards.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croom, Corey Living people 1971 births American football running backs African-American players of American football Ball State Cardinals football players New England Patriots players Players of American football from Ohio Sportspeople from Sandusky, Ohio 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople