Frank Middleton Jr. (born October 25, 1974) 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 an

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tende ...

for eight seasons 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) during the 1990s and early 2000s. Middleton 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

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

. He was selected in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft with the 63rd overall pick, and 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 ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

Early life

Middleton was born in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

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 The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. 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 Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

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 Players of American football from Beaumont, Texas American football offensive guards Arizona Wildcats football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Oakland Raiders players Fort Scott Greyhounds football players