James David Druckenmiller Jr. (born September 19, 1972) 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

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

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). 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 ...

for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Druckenmiller was selected by 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 ...

in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft with the 26th overall pick. In his career, he played in the NFL for the 49ers, Miami Dolphins, and

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

, as well as the Memphis Maniax of the XFL and the Los Angeles Avengers of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL).

College career

After attending high school at Northampton Area High School in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Druckenmiller prepped at Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, Virginia, before committing to

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

. Druckenmiller started two years at quarterback for the

Virginia Tech Hokies football The Virginia Tech Hokies football team represents Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the sport of American football. The Hokies compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of th ...

team. As a senior, he won all- Big East accolades. Druckenmiller's Hokies won the Big East Conference championship in 1995 and 1996. In 1995, they defeated the Texas Longhorns in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

. In December 1996, Druckenmiller graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in

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College statistics

Professional career

National Football League

Druckenmiller was drafted in the first round (26th overall) of the 1997 NFL draft by the

, which intended to groom him as Steve Young's successor; after the draft, 49ers coach Steve Mariucci commented about Druckenmiller: "I would like to think he's our quarterback of the future." Because Young had a concussion, Mariucci decided to start Druckenmiller for the week 2 game (September 7, 1997) against the St. Louis Rams. Although the 49ers won 15–12, Druckenmiller completed only 10 of his 28 attempted passes for 102 yards with one

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 ...

pass and three

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

s. In the fourth quarter, Druckenmiller was 0-for-5 with one interception and two near-interceptions. Druckenmiller played in three more games: first in week 3 backing up Steve Young in the 49ers' 33–7 win over the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

. In that game, Druckenmiller completed 4 of 6 pass attempts for 41 yards, was sacked once for 9 yards, and lost one yard on a rush attempt. The following week, the 49ers beat 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 ...

34–7. Druckenmiller was 2-for-7 for 32 yards and a 6-yard sack, and -3 yards rushing. Druckenmiller's next game action was in the 49ers' final 1997 regular season game, a 38–9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in which Druckenmiller was 5-for-11 for 64 yards, one interception, one sack, and one rushing yard. He finished the 1997 season 21-for-52 with one touchdown pass and four interceptions. In the 1998 season, Druckenmiller played only two games: week 2 against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

and week 6 against the New Orleans Saints. After the season, General Manager Bill Walsh belittled his football skills and implied that Druckenmiller would have been released but for salary cap ramifications. On September 6, 1999, the 49ers traded Druckenmiller to the Miami Dolphins for a conditional draft choice. Druckenmiller did not play a down in 1999. In a preseason game on August 9, 2000, Druckenmiller completed 13 of 21 pass attempts in the Dolphins' 13–10 loss to the

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for 141 yards including the 78-yard first touchdown drive. The Dolphins cut Druckenmiller on August 16. In 2008,

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named him the 11th-biggest bust since the AFL-NFL merger.

Later career

In 2001, he had limited action as a backup with the

's Los Angeles Avengers. He also played for the Memphis Maniax of the XFL in 2001. The XFL used the

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of Druckenmiller's history and his unusually strong arm and passing range to promote Maniax games. He ranked 13th in the league in rushing yards (208, leading all quarterbacks) and fourth in passer rating, with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In 2003, just as Druckenmiller was offered a job as a sales manager for a

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

-based cargo trailer company, the

offered Druckenmiller a tryout to be Peyton Manning's third-string backup, but the Colts ultimately signed Jim Kubiak.

Legal troubles

Malicious wounding

In 1996, Druckenmiller was charged with malicious wounding in connection with a bar brawl. One witness quoted Druckenmiller as saying to him, "Did you see me kick that guy's butt?" The judge held that the evidence against Druckenmiller was not sufficient to convict him and threw out the charge.

Rape allegations

On April 24, 1999, police in Blacksburg, Virginia, reported that Druckenmiller had been charged with rape, stemming from an incident in a house between 3 and 4 a.m. on March 4 of that year. According to Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Curtis "Skip" Schwab, Druckenmiller "went downstairs to have sex with a woman who had vomited twice and fallen on a couch," and that Druckenmiller did not know the woman's correct first or last name. The accuser testified that she vaguely remembered a friend putting her to bed after a night of drinking. She passed out and awoke to find Druckenmiller on top of her. When asked what he was doing by a Montgomery County assistant commonwealth's attorney, the accuser responded, "Having sex. It took me a while to realize what was going on. I was disoriented. I had no idea where I was." According to Druckenmiller, he had carried the woman to a bed after she vomited for the second time that night and slumped on a couch, and stated he went to check on her a few minutes later and asked how she was. When she told him she was drunk but doing fine, he asked her if she was going to make good on a promise she made to him earlier in the evening to have sex. On July 22, 1999, Druckenmiller was acquitted.

After-football career

Since 2004, Druckenmiller has lived in Memphis and worked in various sales, business management, and information technology positions with companies including ChoicePoint,

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, and A.S. Barboro.Jim Druckenmiller
on

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. Accessed July 9, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Druckenmiller, Jim 1972 births Living people American football quarterbacks Fork Union Military Academy alumni Memphis Maniax players Miami Dolphins players Northampton Area High School alumni Players of American football from Allentown, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Memphis, Tennessee San Francisco 49ers players Los Angeles Avengers players Virginia Tech Hokies football players Businesspeople from Tennessee