James Napoleon Shaw (born February 27, 1989) 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 ...

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 ...

. Shaw 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 ...

Jacksonville State University Jacksonville State University (JSU or Jax State) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's degree, bachelor's, mas ...

. He was a member of the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

Pittsburgh Power The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team belonged to the East Division (AFL), East Division of the American Conference in the Arena Football League. Founded in 2010, the Power was t ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

San Jose Sabercats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

and

Portland Steel The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Ange ...

Early life

Shaw lettered in football and basketball at St. Clair County High School in Odenville, Alabama. He recorded over 750 rushing yards, 250 receiving yards, nine touchdowns and registered 105 tackles on defense as a senior. He was named All-County as a running back and linebacker in 2006. Shaw was also named the St. Clair County Player of the Year and helped the Fighting Saints to a 9–3 record as a junior. He was named to the All-Tournament team during the County Championships in basketball.

College career

Shaw played for the

Jacksonville State Gamecocks The Jacksonville State Gamecocks are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Jacksonville State University located in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. In January 2023, the university began phasing in a new identity, Jax State, for marketing a ...

from 2008 to 2011. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2007.

Professional career

Shaw was rated the 264th best wide receiver in the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

by NFLDraftScout.com. Shaw was signed by the

of 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) on February 14, 2013. He was released by the Panthers on August 31, 2013. He was re-signed to the Panthers' practice squad on September 1, 2013. Shaw was released by the Panthers on September 18, 2013. Shaw was assigned to the AFL's

on March 7, 2014. He was placed on Other League Exempt by the Power on August 5, 2014. The Power folded in November 2014. Shaw signed with the NFL's

on August 5, 2014. He was released by the Steelers on August 18, 2014. Shaw was assigned to the

of the AFL on December 23, 2014. On May 26, 2016, Shaw was assigned to the

of the AFL. He participated in

The Spring League The Spring League (TSL) was an American football Minor league football (gridiron), developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional football (gridiron), p ...

in 2017.

Statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

References

External links

Stats Crew profileCollege stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, James Living people 1989 births American football wide receivers Jacksonville State Gamecocks football players Carolina Panthers players Pittsburgh Power players Pittsburgh Steelers players San Jose SaberCats players Portland Steel players The Spring League players Players of American football from Alabama People from St. Clair County, Alabama Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen