Craig Matthew Nall (born April 21, 1979) 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 ...

who 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 ...

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) in the fifth round of the

2002 NFL draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted ...

. 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

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Johnson and Alexandria. It is a part of the Un ...

. He also played for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

; he also had brief stints with the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores, were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, ...

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 ...

and the

Florida Tuskers Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

of the United Football League (UFL).

Early life

Nall was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and attended

Alexandria Senior High School Alexandria Senior High School is a public secondary school located in Alexandria, Louisiana, United States. The school serves about 1,300 students in grades 9 to 12 in the Rapides Parish School Board district. Alexandria Senior High (commonly ...

, where he was the quarterback for the football team, having thrown for 5,038 yards and 38 touchdowns.

College career

LSU

Nall initially played college football at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. 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 1997. In 1998, he was the #2 quarterback behind senior Herb Tyler. When Tyler suffered an injury late in the game at Notre Dame, Nall came off of the bench to lead LSU the length of the field in a furious comeback attempt. The comeback came up short as an LSU receiver dropped the potential game winning pass in the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field ...

on fourth down as time was winding down. Nall then started the next week in the last game of the season at #13 Arkansas. Nall was sacked six times and threw for 147 yards and was intercepted once. In 1999, Nall had to battle

Josh Booty Joshua Gibson Booty (born April 29, 1975) is an American former professional baseball and football player. Booty played briefly in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman, and also in the National Football League (NFL) as a quarterback. H ...

and

Rohan Davey Rohan St. Patrick Davey (born April 14, 1978) is a Jamaican-born former professional American football quarterback. He won two Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, as the backup to Tom Brady in 2003 and 2004. Early life Davey attende ...

for the quarterback position. Nall was named the starter for the season opener but was benched at halftime with LSU leading. He was sacked once for 8 yards and he threw two interceptions in 15 attempts (completing 6 of 15 for 79 yards). Nall made only one other brief appearance at quarterback for LSU in 1999 as he got some late mop-up duty the next week. Nall did not play quarterback for the rest of the season. Nall only got two passing attempts in the 2000 season opener after a

groin In human anatomy, the groin, also known as the inguinal region or iliac region, is the junctional area between the torso and the thigh. The groin is at the front of the body on either side of the pubic tubercle, where the lower part of the abdom ...

injury hampered him at the end of fall camp.

Northwestern State

In 2001, Nall transferred to

Northwestern State University Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport, Louisiana, Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville, Louisiana, Leesville/Fort Jo ...

in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he became the first quarterback in school history to surpass two thousand yards passing in a season.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers (first stint)

He was selected out of NSU by the

in the fifth round of the

with the 164th choice overall. Nall also started for the

in 2003 and was the league's leading passer. In 2004 Nall played in five games as

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 cons ...

's backup at Green Bay. He completed 23 of 33 passes for 314 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions, and a passer rating of 139.4.

Buffalo Bills

In 2006, Craig Nall signed as an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

, where he competed for the starting quarterback position until a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injury suffered on the second day of practice ended his involvement in the competition. In 2007, he fell on the team's depth chart behind J. P. Losman and Trent Edwards. At the end of pre-season, he was cut from the team's final roster. Early into the regular season he was re-signed by the Bills but was released shortly thereafter.

Houston Texans (first stint)

On October 29, 2007, Nall was signed by the

as insurance when starter

Matt Schaub Matthew Rutledge Schaub (; born June 25, 1981) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 17 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, and was selecte ...

was hurt against San Diego. He was released by the Texans on November 21, 2007.

Green Bay Packers (second stint)

He signed a one-year deal with the Packers on December 1, 2007, after they released Marviel Underwood. He became a free agent in the 2008 offseason.

Houston Texans (second stint)

Nall was re-signed by the

on November 5, 2008, after an injury to

. He was waived on December 17 when the team signed fellow Northwestern State alumnus

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

David Pittman.

Florida Tuskers

Nall was signed by the

of the United Football League on August 25, 2009.

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bioHouston Texans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nall, Craig 1979 births Living people Players of American football from Alexandria, Louisiana American football quarterbacks LSU Tigers football players Northwestern State Demons football players Green Bay Packers players Scottish Claymores players Buffalo Bills players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Florida Tuskers players American expatriate sportspeople in Scotland American expatriate players of American football