Emmanuel Ellerbee (born November 20, 1996) is an

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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who is a free agent. 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 ...

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and was signed by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2018.

Early life

Ellerbee was born and raised in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and attended high school at

Strake Jesuit College Preparatory Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (properly referred to as Strake Jesuit or Jesuit but often informally called Strake) is a Jesuit, college-preparatory school for boys, grades 9–12, in the Chinatown area and in the Greater Sharpstown district ...

. He was a second-team All-District and an honorable mention All-State selection at linebacker for Strake. A Houston-area top 100 football recruit, Ellerbee committed to play football for

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

after being recruited by

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, and Texas State.

College career

Ellerbee played four seasons for the

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

, accumulating 273 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, and five fumble recoveries over the course of his career. Ellerbee was named first-team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

for his junior and senior seasons and recorded 238 tackles over that span.

College statistics

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons

Ellerbee was signed by

as undrafted free agent on May 2, 2018, but was waived by the team on September 1, 2018.

Los Angeles Chargers

Ellerbee was claimed off waivers by

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

on September 2, 2018. He made his NFL debut on September 30 against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, playing on special teams. He was waived on October 20, 2018, after appearing in three games with the Chargers.

Seattle Seahawks

Ellerbee was claimed off waivers by

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

on October 22, 2018. He was waived on November 6, 2018, and was re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 1, 2018. He was waived by the Seahawks two days later and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted back to the active roster on December 12, 2018. On July 27, 2019, Ellerbee was placed on injured reserve. He was waived/injured on August 1, 2020, and reverted to the team's injured reserve list after clearing waivers the next day. He was waived from injured reserve on September 29, 2020.

Houston Texans

On October 12, 2020, Ellerbee was signed to the

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 ...

practice squad. His practice squad contract with the team expired after the season on January 11, 2021.

Atlanta Falcons (second stint)

On July 26, 2021, Ellerbee signed with the

. He was waived on August 31, 2021, and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. The Falcons signed Ellerbee to their active roster on November 18, 2021.

Houston Roughnecks

The Houston Roughnecks selected Ellerbee in the third round of the 2023 XFL Supplemental Draft on January 1, 2023. The Roughnecks brand was transferred to the

Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducin ...

when the XFL and USFL merged to create the United Football League (UFL).

References

External links

Chargers bioRice bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellerbee, Emmanuel 1996 births Living people American football linebackers Players of American football from Houston Rice Owls football players Atlanta Falcons players Los Angeles Chargers players Seattle Seahawks players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen Houston Roughnecks players