Derrick Leon Witherspoon (born February 14, 1971) 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 ...

and

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) and

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 in the CFL for the Shreveport Pirates and the 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 ...

. 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 ...

at Clemson. Witherspoon is currently the co-founder and Vice President of the

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Chapter of the NFL Alumni.

Early life and education

Witherspoon played high school football and ran track at Sumter High School. Football: In 1989-1990, he ended his final high school season with 13

touchdown 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 ...

s and three 2-point conversions (2,063 all-purpose yards, rushed for 1,311 yards on 229 carries for a 5.7 average, and caught 18 passes for 223 yards and a 12.3 average and returned 17 kickoffs for 529 yards with a 31.1 average). Witherspoon was selected to play for the South team in the North South football game in

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the " Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. It ...

on December 18, 1989. Track: March 24, 1990, Witherspoon and three of his classmates (Marcus Thomas, Harold McCants and Reggie Williams), won the 400-meter relay with a time of 43:20 at the Sumter Optimist Relays. In the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, Witherspoon, and his team, had a three way tie for first place with a height of 17 feet 8 inches. He came in second in the 100 meter dash, he was passed in the last 10 meters of the run by Manning High School's Micha Spry.

Collegiate career

Witherspoon played football and ran track at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

. In his fourth game as a freshman, on Saturday, September 22, 1990 against Appalachain State, Witherspoon ran for 81 yards from scrimmage for a touchdown, his first as a college player, and the longest in 40 years in

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...

. Witherspoon ended that game with 123 yards and 10 carries. He and Ronald Williams ran for a total of 338 yards as first year players in that game. He placed 7th overall in the 55 meter dash at the ACC Indoor Championships in 1993. As a senior, Witherspoon tried out for all but three teams prior to the NFL draft. While trying out for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Witherspoon had a 42 inch vertical and ran the 40 yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

Professional career

In 1996, during his second year in the NFL with the

, Witherspoon, ran for a total of 1,271 yards as a kick-off returner on special teams and scored two touchdowns. His longest run that season was 97 yards. During the

1996 Philadelphia Eagles Season The 1996 NFL season, 1996 season was the Philadelphia Eagles' sixty-fourth in the National Football League (NFL). The team matched its 10–6 record from the 1995 Philadelphia Eagles season, previous season and qualified for the playoffs for the ...

he was named Special Teams MVP. He was ranked #7 on the Top Ten Eagles kickoff returners of all time list by The Philly Voice in 2022.

Legacy and awards

He was named one of the greatest running backs in the history of the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

by SC Varsity On December 2, 1989 Witherspoon was named Sumter Daily Item's "Area Player of the Year".

Personal life

Witherspoon is married and has two sons and a daughter. His daughter, Kalani Witherspoon is a sprinter/track athlete at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witherspoon, Derrick 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Sumter, South Carolina Players of American football from South Carolina American football running backs Canadian football running backs American football return specialists Clemson Tigers football players Shreveport Pirates players Philadelphia Eagles players