Joe Ayoob (born August 8, 1984) is an American former professional

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

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 ...

. He was signed by the Central Valley Coyotes as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2008. 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 California Golden Bears. He is also the current world record holder for throwing a John Collins–designed paper airplane at a distance of . As of March 2021, a video of the throw has more than 4.8 million views.

High school career

Ayoob attended Terra Linda High School, where he was named First-team All-league in

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. He played in the North Coast Section Championship football games in both his junior and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

seasons.

College career

C.C. San Francisco

Ayoob originally attended the City College of San Francisco where he was regarded as one of the best

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

quarterbacks in the nation. He was also a teammate of future Cal player Desmond Bishop. Ayoob helped lead the school to a 23-1 record over his two seasons, winning a national championship (12-0) in 2003. In 2004, he was named the state's

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

Offensive Player of the year by the JC Athletic Bureau/California Community College Football Coaches Association. He earned First-team JC Gridwire All-America after completing 61.3% (217-of-354) of his passes for 3,679 yards and 35

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 ...

s in 2004. He ranked #1 in the state in passing efficiency (177.5) and led the most prolific junior-college offense in California (500.1 yards-per-game). ''SuperPrep'' rated him the #2 junior college player in the nation in its postseason JuCo 100. '' Rivals.com'' ranked him #15 on its national JC list. He helped lead his team to an 11-1 record, with the team's only loss a 39-32 loss to

College of the Canyons College of the Canyons (COC) is a public community college in Santa Clarita, California. It comprises the Santa Clarita Community College District. The college is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and has campus loca ...

in the California state championship game. He was named the Offensive Player of the Game in loss, as he threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 62 yards on seven carries. In his two seasons at CCSF, he completed 352-of-571 pass attempts (61.6%) for 5,790 yards and 55 touchdowns while rushing for an additional nine touchdowns. He also won the MVP award in the state championship game in each of his two seasons.

Cal

Ayoob then transferred to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, he started nine games at quarterback, after an injury to Nate Longshore, and helped lead the Bears to a 5-4 record in those games. On the season, he passed for 1,707 yards with 15 touchdowns. He ended the season #8 in the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

in passing yards (155.2 yards-per-game) and ninth in total offense (160.5 yards-per-game). His best game of the season may have been at

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

when he was 17-of-26 passing for a season-high 284 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for three touchdowns on his first three carries. His first career start came on the road against Washington where he went 17-of-27 passing for 271 yards with four first-half touchdown passes. Against Oregon State, he became the first Cal player since Kyle Boller in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, to catch, run for, and pass for a touchdown in the same game. He threw for 274 yards against

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, including 91 in the final seven minutes when he led the Bears to a 42-38 come-from-behind win. He was 4-of-4 with two touchdowns on Cal's last two possessions. He ran for a touchdown and passed for two touchdowns in the 28-0 win over

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. He came off the bench to play in the season opener against Sacramento State, where he completed 0 passes out of 10 attempts. He also came off the bench to play the regular season finale at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, Ayoob played in just four games as Cal's backup quarterback to Nate Longshore. He completed 9-of-22 passes for 187 yards and a 40-yard touchdown pass to

DeSean Jackson DeSean William Jackson (born December 1, 1986) is an American college football coach and former player who is the Head coach, head football coach at Delaware State Hornets football, Delaware State University. Known for his speed, he is recog ...

against

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. He also played against Portland State (2-for-4, 18 yards) and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

(no attempts). While at Cal, Ayoob majored in

Social Welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...

Professional career

Ayoob was not invited to the 2007

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

, so he worked out at Cal's

Pro Day 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 ...

. Ayoob was projected to go unselected in the 2007 NFL draft. He went unselected in the draft and did not sign with any teams in the NFL, leading him to join the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

league. Ayoob joined the Central Valley Coyotes for the 2008 season. On December 2, 2008, he joined the Tri-Cities Fever. Ayoob was assigned to the Spokane Shock on February 24, 2011.

Personal

Ayoob describes his ethnicity as Lebanese and Mexican. His parents are Joe and Marie Ayoob. His father attended Clemson on a basketball scholarship. In late February and early March 2012, a

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

spread across the web featuring Ayoob throwing a paper airplane designed by John M. Collins, across an entire air hangar, breaking the world record for the longest flight with a paper airplane, at a distance of 226 feet, 10 inches (≈69.14 m). Ayoob returned to his alma mater, Terra Linda High School, to become their offensive coordinator in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayoob, Joe 1984 births Living people American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football players Central Valley Coyotes players City College of San Francisco Rams football players Tri-Cities Fever players Sportspeople from San Rafael, California Players of American football from Marin County, California American people of Lebanese descent American sportspeople of Mexican descent Spokane Shock players Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Hispanic and Latino American players of American football