Errict Undra Rhett (born December 11, 1970) is an 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 ...

player who was a

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 ...

in 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) for seven seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Rhett 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 Florida Gators, and was recognized as a first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. A second-round pick in the

1994 NFL draft The 1994 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 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...

, he played professionally for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

of the NFL.

Early life

Rhett was born in

Pembroke Pines, Florida Pembroke Pines is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Miami. It is a suburb of and the fourth-most populous city in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Pembroke ...

in 1970.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Errict Rhett
Retrieved July 9, 2010. He attended McArthur High School in

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players, . Retrieved June 7, 2010. where he was a star high school football player for the McArthur Mustangs. He also was a two-time state wrestling champion in the 185-pound and 220-pound weight class for the McArthur Mustangs wrestling team. At the 1988 Wrestling State Championship, Rhett did not meet the qualifications to wrestle at the 220lbs weight class because he only weighed 173lbs. In order to wrestle 220lbs, all wrestlers must weigh a minimum of 185lbs. Rhett sprinted across the street to a 7-Eleven, only to return 1:30 minutes later and stepped on the scale weighing 186lbs. Rhett went on to capture his 1st State Championship. When the media asked Rhett how did he gain that much weight in that short period of time, Rhett simply said " What the mind can conceive the body will achieve".

College career

Rhett accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, Florida, and played tailback for coach

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

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...

team from

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 77, 78, 88, 93, 97, 103, 125, 127, 138–140, 143, 147–148, 152, 159, 162, 173, 185 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. Rhett broke Gator alumnus Emmitt Smith's former Gators career rushing record, finishing with 4,163 yards and thirty-four

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, 1,230 yards receiving and two touchdown receptions, and leading the Gators in rushing for all four seasons of his college career. Memorably, he rushed for 193 yards against the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, and for 196 yards against the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

in 1993. Aided by his consistent running game, the Gators won the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) championship in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and again in 1993. As a senior team captain, Rhett was named most valuable player (MVP) of the 1994 Sugar Bowl, rushing for 105 yards and three touchdowns in the Gators' 41–7 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers. He was a first-team All-SEC selection in 1991 and 1993, a first-team All-American in 1993, and was chosen by his teammates as the Gators' most valuable player in 1993. During his time at Florida, Rhett was initiated as a brother of

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded on November 17, 1911 at Howard University. Omega Psi Phi is a founding member of ...

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

. He graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1995, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2005. The sports editors of ''The Gainesville Sun'' ranked him as No. 34 among the 100 all-time greatest Gators of the first 100 seasons of Florida football in 2006.

Professional career

Rhett was chosen by the

in the second round (thirty-fourth pick overall) in the 1994 NFL Draft. He played seven professional seasons from to . During his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

season with Tampa Bay, he rushed for 1,011 yards and seven touchdowns.National Football League, Historical Players
Errict Rhett
Retrieved May 23, 2010. Rhett had a career year the following season when he rushed for 1,207 yards and eleven touchdowns. He was involved in a contract hold-out before the season, but still led the Buccaneers in rushing despite appearing in just nine games. Rhett played four more years in the NFL, but he never matched the numbers that he produced during his first two seasons. His best post-Tampa Bay season came in when he rushed for 852 yards for the

. Rhett's career ended when the

waived him immediately before the start of the season. During his seven NFL seasons, Rhett rushed for 4,143 yards and twenty-nine touchdowns; he also had eighty-nine receptions for 552 yards and three touchdowns.

NFL career statistics

Life after football

Rhett is the father of three children: son Errict Jr., and daughters Morgan and Amaurri.Scott Carter,
GatorZone.com Catches Up with Errict Rhett at Nike Uniform Launch Event
" GatorZone.com (September 2, 2010). Retrieved May 25, 2011. All three are actively involved in sports; he coaches his son's Optimist league junior football team and regularly attends his daughters' track meets. When his playing career ended after the 2000 NFL season, Rhett returned to South Florida, where he grew up. Today, he is the chief executive officer of Errict Rhett Custom Homes and the Errict Rhett Foundation. Rhett's foundation emphasizes charitable activities that benefit underprivileged children, including an after-school support program, college scholarships, and a mentoring program.Errict Rhett Foundation
Programs
. Retrieved May 25, 2011.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhett, Errict 1970 births Living people All-American college football players American football running backs Baltimore Ravens players Cleveland Browns players Florida Gators football players People from Pembroke Pines, Florida Players of American football from Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers players