Frank Middleton Jr. (born October 25, 1974) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was an offensive guard for eight seasons in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

during the 1990s and early 2000s. Middleton played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the Fort Scott Community College in Kansas and the University of Arizona. He was drafted in the 3rd round (63rd pick overall) of the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 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 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

, and played professionally for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Early life

Middleton was born in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

ad graduated from West Brook Senior High School, where he was an All-American, All-State and all-conference prep star as a two-way lineman. He lettered three times in football and was on Texas Football's Top-50 List.

College career

Middleton started playing college ball at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas. He was inducted into the Fort Scott Community College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. After finishing two seasons at FSJC and earning Junior College All-America honors as a sophomore, Middleton transferred to the University of Arizona. He started in 18 games at left guard over two seasons at Arizona. In 1996, he started 10 games and was credited with 74 knockdown blocks. He majored in criminal justice.

Professional career

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose Middleton in the third round (63rd pick overall) of the 1997 NFL Draft, and he played for the Buccaneers for four seasons from 1997 to 2000. He then joined the

organization where he played for four more seasons.

Life after the NFL

Middleton was the assistant coach at Kelly High School for seven years before becoming the offensive coordinator at Kountze High School in 2012. In 2013, he returned to Kelly High School as offensive coordinator. Middleton and his wife live in

and have three daughters.

References

External links

UA lineman is charged with assault

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Frank 1974 births Living people People from Beaumont, Texas American football offensive guards Arizona Wildcats football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Oakland Raiders players Fort Scott Greyhounds football players