Dell Pettus (born June 2, 2001) is an American 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 ...

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 ...

for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

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). 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 the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's Division I (NCAA), Division I-A in 2001 in sports, 2001, became a American football, football only member of the ...

Early life

Pettus grew up in

Harvest, Alabama Harvest is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the northwestern part of Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, ...

and attended

Sparkman High School Sparkman High School is a public high school in Harvest, Alabama, United States in the Madison County Schools district. The school was named after senator and former vice presidential nominee John Jackson Sparkman. Sparkman is one of the large ...

, where he lettered in football, baseball and track & field. He finished his high school football career with 10 interceptions, 132 tackles, two forced fumbles and 17 tackles for loss. He was a three-star rated recruit and was named one of the top 50 players in the state of Alabama. He committed to play

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. It was one ...

College career

During Pettus's true freshman season in 2019, he played in all 12 games and started 10 of them at free safety. He finished the season with a freshman leading 63 total tackles. He also averaged 5.9 tackles during his starting games. He was named to the All-

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

team as an honorable mention. During the 2020 season, he played in and started all 11 games at strong safety. He finished the season with 58 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, five pass breakups, 44 intercepted yards for an interception and a touchdown. He was named to the All-Sun Belt Third Team. During the 2021 season, he played in and started all 12 games, finishing the season with 54 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss and a field goal attempt against

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

. During the 2022 season, he played in and started all 14 games at strong safety. He finished the season with 66 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery. During the 2023 season, he played in and started all 14 games, finishing the season with 74 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, four pass breakups and a fumble recovery. He was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team.

Professional career

Pettus went undrafted in the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

and was signed shortly after by the

References

External links

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Troy Trojans bioNew England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettus, Dell 2001 births Living people Players of American football from Madison County, Alabama American football safeties Troy Trojans football players New England Patriots players