Devard Loran Darling (born April 16, 1982) is a Bahamian-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 ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. After playing

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 ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

and

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, he was selected by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

in the third round of the

2004 NFL draft The 2004 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 from April 24–25, 2004, at the Theate ...

and went on to play for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

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 ...

Early life

Born in the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, Darling attended Nassau Christian Academy before relocating to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He attended Stephen F. Austin High School in

Sugar Land, Texas Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

and won three

varsity letters A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. A person who ...

, two in track, and one in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. In football, he won All-District honors and was named the 28th best prospect in the state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

by ''SuperPrep''.

College career

Darling attended

until the death of his

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brother, Devaughn Darling. After his brother died during practice, due to exhaustion, possibly tied to a

sickle cell trait Sickle cell trait describes a condition in which a person has one abnormal allele of the hemoglobin beta gene (is heterozygous), but does not display the severe symptoms of sickle cell disease that occur in a person who has two copies of that all ...

, FSU doctors would not clear him medically to return to the

team. He subsequently transferred to

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

, and finished his career with 105 receptions for 1,630 yards (15.7 yards per reception average) and 30 receiving touchdowns.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Darling was selected by the

in the third round of the

. He signed a three-year contract worth about $1.5 million with the team on July 26, 2004. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on October 29 due to a heel injury. Darling missed most of 2005 and 2006 to injuries as well. He was tendered to a one-year contract worth $850,000 on March 1, 2007. On September 27, he was fined $7,500 by the league for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he received in week 3 after following Yamon Figurs into the stands following a touchdown. He had a breakout game on November 18, 2007 against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

with four catches for 107 yards and his first NFL touchdown. Darling had 20 catches for 331 yards and three

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 in his career with the Ravens.

Kansas City Chiefs

On March 11, 2008, Darling signed a three-year contract with the

. On September 7, Darling broke free for what looked to be a game-tying touchdown against 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 ...

, but he was tackled on 5-yard line. Kansas City ended up losing the game. He ultimately would score only one touchdown while with the Chiefs. He was placed on

on September 1, 2009. He was released by the Chiefs on March 3, 2010.

Omaha Nighthawks

Darling was signed by the

Omaha Nighthawks The Omaha Nighthawks were a professional American football team based in Omaha, Nebraska, which played in the United Football League (2009–2012), United Football League, joining the league as an expansion team in 2010 UFL season, 2010. During ...

of the United Football League on September 8, 2010.

Houston Texans

On August 8, 2011, Darling signed with the

. He was released on September 3, 2011.

Personal life

Darling is the younger brother of Bahamian track athlete

Dennis Darling Dennis Theodore Darling (born 6 May 1975) is a Bahamian athlete who specializes in the 400 metres. He is currently track and field Assistant Coach at Texas Christian University. Darling competed in 400 metres at the 1997 World Championship ...

and the brother-in-law of his wife

Tonique Williams-Darling Tonique Williams-Darling ( Williams; born January 17, 1976) is a Bahamian sprint athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. College She attended the University of South Carolina, graduati ...

. Devard's twin brother, Devaughn Darling, died in 2001 due to football practice conditions at Florida State. His family is still waiting for the Florida Legislature to pass a Claims Bill to receive the money they are owed from the settlement with FSU.

References

External links

Stats Crew profile

Kansas City Chiefs bio

* The story of the Darling twins was related at length in the article "Soul Survivor" by Gary Smith for ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' ecember 2, 2002 issue later reprinted in the book ''The Greatest Football Stories Ever Told'' (pp. 19–37), Ed. Eric Noe. {{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Devard 1982 births Identical twins Living people Sportspeople from Nassau, Bahamas Players of American football from Sugar Land, Texas Bahamian players of American football American football wide receivers Florida State Seminoles football players Washington State Cougars football players Baltimore Ravens players Kansas City Chiefs players Omaha Nighthawks players American twins Bahamian twins