Darren Hambrick (born August 30, 1975) 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 ...

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, pl ...

in 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) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

and the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. He played college football at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, before transferring to the University of South Carolina.

Early years

Hambrick and his brother

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

attended Pasco High School, helping the football team win the 1992 Class 3A state championship. As a senior he posted 140 tackles at

, receiving prep All-American, All-state and area defensive MVP honors. In

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the short ...

, he was the first athlete in Florida history to qualify for 5 events at the state track meet. He high jumped 7'1 3/4" as a senior. He also practiced

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. In 1999, he was chosen as the best football player in Pasco County history by the

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

College career

Hambrick accepted a football scholarship from the

. He was the only true freshman to start a game on defense for the team. He played in 13 games (3 starts) as a "Nickel" linebacker, receiving SEC All-Freshman honors after collecting 46 tackles (5 for loss), 2 interceptions and one sack. As a sophomore, he had 59 tackles (3 for loss), 3 passes defensed, one sack, a forced fumble, one fumble recovery and 2 interceptions, including an 81-yard interception return for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

against the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. He also competed in the high jump and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

for the Gators

team in 1993 and 1994. Head coach

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his ...

kicked him off the team just prior to the 1995

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed on ...

, after he got into an altercation in which he struck another player in the jaw with broken glass. Hambrick transferred to the University of South Carolina and sat out the 1995 season under NCAA transfer rules. As a junior, he was named honorable-mention All-SEC, after making 83 tackles (4 for loss), 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He had a career-high 13 tackles against the

. Entering his senior season in 1997, he was named the starter at

weakside 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 ...

, but fractured his left fibula in the season opener against the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. He missed 7 games before returning against the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

. He started in the season finale against

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

, making three tackles.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Hambrick was selected by the

in the fifth round (130th overall) of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 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 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at ...

, after dropping because of injuries concerns. As a rookie, he finished second on the team with 18

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

tackles. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

, he earned the starting job at

strongside 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 most of the season (12 starts), finishing with 62 tackles (eighth on the team), 2.5 sacks, 3 quarterback pressures, 2 interceptions, a forced fumble and 10

tackles. Prior to the final regular season game, the team convinced

Quentin Coryatt Quentin John Coryatt (born August 1, 1970) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Texas A&M University. He is distinguished as being the ...

to unretire and replace Hambrick in the starting lineup. Coryatt ended up getting hurt and Hambrick started in the Cowboys' playoff loss to 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 ...

. On January 26,

, he was arrested after fleeing from police officers who tried to pull him over for speeding. Hambrick was seen as a rising player after being the team's leading tackler (154) in the 2000 season, but personal problems started to surface when he refused to come out of the final regular-season game and ignored head coach

Dave Campo David Cross Campo (born July 18, 1947) is an American football coach and former player. Campo served as the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) from 2000 to 2002, compiling a record of 15 wins and 33 losses. He ...

when he was approached after the game. He also engaged in a contract dispute with the Cowboys during the offseason, after feeling mistreated as a

restricted free agent A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the terms under which they can retain ...

, when he was tendered an offer of $512,000 dollars. After missing two of three minicamps in a protest over his salary, Campo demoted him to second string during the first two weeks of training camp in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. He was suspended for the Cowboys' final preseason game and the regular-season opener, because of a curfew violation while the team was in Mexico City to finish the preseason. Hambrick was released by the Cowboys on October 23,

, because of personal conflicts and violations of team rules, even though at the time he was fourth on the team with 22 tackles through the first five games of the year. In Dallas he is best known for replying "What do voluntary mean?" when asked why he did not report to offseason workouts in

. His quote is often referenced in jest by the Dallas sports media.

Carolina Panthers

On October 24,

, he was claimed off waivers by the

, starting in eight of nine games and leading the team in tackles twice. During his tenure with the team, he reported as stolen a paycheck from the Panthers he had already cashed. At the end of the season, he wasn't re-signed.

Cleveland Browns

Hambrick signed with the

for the 2002 season to replace Jamir Miller at

, starting 15 games and helping the team reach the playoffs. Although he was arrested on a grand theft charge, the Browns offered a $520,000 dollars one-year contract which he turned down to negotiate better conditions. He wasn't re-signed, ending a five-year

NFL 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 maj ...

career that was cut short because of his off-the-field issues.

Tampa Bay Storm

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, he was signed to the practice squad of the

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 f ...

of 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 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, but was waived on June 6.

Personal life

Hambrick is the brother of former NFL

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 ...

Troy Hambrick and is also related to former Major League Pitcher

Mudcat Grant James Timothy "Mudcat" Grant Jr. (August 13, 1935 – June 11, 2021) was an American baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos ...

. Among a number of criminal incidents, on November 20, 2008 Hambrick was sentenced to 12 months

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences ( alternatives to incarceration), suc ...

after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery. He then violated his probation in May 2010 and in July 2010 had his probation revoked and was sentenced to 30 days in the Pasco County Jail.

References

External links

Image is everything
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hambrick, Darren 1975 births Living people African-American players of American football American football outside linebackers Carolina Panthers players Cleveland Browns players Dallas Cowboys players Florida Gators football players Sportspeople from Pasco County, Florida Players of American football from Florida South Carolina Gamecocks football players Tampa Bay Storm players Pasco High School (Florida) alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople