Jimmy Spencer (American Football)
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James Arthur Spencer, Jr. (born March 29, 1969) 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
cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...
for 12 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. Spencer 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 The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...
, and thereafter, he played in the NFL for 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 ...
,
Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...
,
San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...
and
Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...
.


Early life

Spencer was born in
Manning, South Carolina Manning is a city in and the county seat of Clarendon County, South Carolina, Clarendon County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,245 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2018 of 3,94 ...
.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Jimmy Spencer
Retrieved October 11, 2010.
He attended
Glades Central High School Glades Central Community High School is a high school in Belle Glade, Florida. In the 2014–15 school year, its enrollment numbered 992 students. The school was a football powerhouse. In 2001, the ''New York Times'' reported that Glades Central h ...
in
Belle Glade, Florida Belle Glade is a city in south-central Florida and it is the far western part of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, on the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. According to th ...
,databaseFootball.com, Players, . Retrieved October 11, 2010. and he played high school football for the Glades Central Raiders.


College career

Spencer 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, where he played for coach Galen Hall and 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 ...
's Gators teams from 1988 to
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 ...
.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 105, 110, 115, 185 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
In 1990, he blocked a punt late in the fourth quarter, which Richard Fain recovered and returned twenty-five yards for a touchdown and providing the margin of victory in the Gators' 17–13 victory over the
Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...
in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Spencer decided to forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility after his junior season in 1990, and made himself eligible for the
NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
.


Professional career

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 ...
selected Spencer in the eighth round (215th pick overall) of the
1991 NFL draft The 1991 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 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott Ma ...
. Spencer played for the New Orleans Saints from to , the Cincinnati Bengals in and , the San Diego Chargers in and , and the Denver Broncos from to .National Football League, Historical Players
Jimmy Spencer
Retrieved October 11, 2010.
Statistically, his best seasons were , 1995 and 1996, when he was a regular starter for New Orleans and then Cincinnati. In his twelve NFL seasons, Spencer played in 177 regular season games, and started eighty-one of them. He finished his NFL career with twenty-six
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, two touchdown returns, eight fumble recoveries and one fumble recovery for a touchdown. In 2003, Spencer worked as an assistant defensive back coach with the Broncos in addition to playing, making him the first simultaneous player/coach in the NFL since Dan Reeves in 1972.


See also

*
Florida Gators football, 1980–89 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 ...
* Florida Gators football, 1990–99 * History of the Denver Broncos * List of Florida Gators in the NFL draft * List of New Orleans Saints players


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:Spencer, Jimmy 1969 births Living people Players of American football from Belle Glade, Florida People from Manning, South Carolina Players of American football from South Carolina American football cornerbacks Florida Gators football players New Orleans Saints players Cincinnati Bengals players San Diego Chargers players Denver Broncos players