John David Booty (born January 3, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He played college football at USC and was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

in the fifth round of the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27 ...

. Booty also played for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

and Houston Texans. He is the brother of former NFL quarterback and

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...

third baseman Josh Booty.

Early years

Booty prepped at the Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana but left a year early after his father (who was the team's quarterback coach) left the staff, having already earned enough credits to graduate. Despite leaving after his junior year, Booty's final passing stats were 8,474 yards on 555 of 864 attempts (64.2%) with 88 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. Booty succeeded his brother, former

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

quarterback Josh Booty, and former Miami quarterback

Brock Berlin Brock Sterling Berlin (born July 4, 1981) is an American former college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Florida and the University ...

. In 2001 and 2002 he led Evangel Christian Academy to state-championship game victories held at the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Booty could engineer a happy 'dome-coming
''Los Angeles Times'', August 5, 2007 Booty is believed to be the first player ever to leave high school a whole year early to play college football. He headlined a class that was considered the best that season, and included other NFL-bound recruits such as

Reggie Bush Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors ...

LenDale White LenDale Anthony White (born December 20, 1984) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (45th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He has also been a member of the Seattle Seahawks and Den ...

, Steve Smith, and Sam Baker.Jamie Newberg
Upon further review ...
SI.com, May 22, 2003, ''Accessed April 30, 2008''.

College career

2003–2005

Although he entered USC as a highly regarded quarterback prospect, Booty spent his first three years at USC as the back-up to eventual Heisman Trophy winner

Matt Leinart Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at University of Souther ...

, who had replaced former Heisman winner

Carson Palmer Carson Hilton Palmer (born December 27, 1979) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at ...

. When he arrived at USC, the competition for the starting quarterback in the 2003 season had not seen any particular player separating himself from the pack, so when Matt Leinart was eventually chosen as the starter there was some question as to whether he would merely hold the starting position until Booty could learn the offense.David Leon Moore
Booty carrying on USC's quarterback tradition
''USA TODAY'', August 3, 2007.Bill Plaschke
Booty puts the finishing touch on a fine body of work
''Los Angeles Times'', January 2, 2008, Accessed July 7, 2008.Arash Markazi

SI.com, August 22, 2008, Accessed August 22, 2008. Booty earned the spot as the number two quarterback as a freshman, but had to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

his second season after suffering an elbow injury in August 2004. When Leinart opted to stay for his final year at USC, there were questions as to whether Booty would transfer to a different school.Eric Sondheimer, rojans Take Stockpiling to a New Level ''Los Angeles Times'', January 15, 2005, Accessed January 16, 2009 He opted to remain at USC. Booty had back surgery to repair a bulging disc in his spine at the end of March 2006, but fully recovered and earned the starting spot for the 2006 season.

2006

Booty entered the 2006 season as a

junior. At the beginning of the 2006 season, Booty was one of fifteen players on the official watch list for the

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best ...

for the best player in college football, although the list states that it "may change without notice based on performance ... during the 2006 season and is not designed to represent an all-inclusive listing of eligible candidates for the collegiate football awards presented by the Maxwell Football Club." In the 2006 season, Booty was ranked the tenth best quarterback in college football and the number one quarterback in the Pac-10 by Rivals.com. He started all of the games for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

at quarterback in 2006 and was named to the rivals.com and Pacific-10 conference coaches 2006 All-Pac-10 team First-team. Booty led the Trojans to a victory over Michigan in the

2007 Rose Bowl The 2007 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2007 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was the 93rd Rose Bowl Game and part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) at the concl ...

, throwing for 391 yards and four touchdowns.Gene Menez
Heisman Watch: Early fix
CNNSI.com, April 24, 2007.

2007

Booty chose to return for the 2007 season, foregoing the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

. Rivals.com named him one of the top-10 quarterbacks going into the 2007 season, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'' as one of the "Top 20 Players Heading into 2007," and he was considered a front-runner for the 2007 Heisman Trophy.Gary Klein
USC begins spring football practice
''Los Angeles Times'', March 20, 2007. Booty was a 2007 pre-season All-American for Athlon, ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'', and Blue Ribbon and was on the 2007 Maxwell Award and

Manning Award The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that incl ...

watch list. In the summer before the season, he worked out with

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

quarterback

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Col ...

.Ivan Maisel
I-Formation breaks the huddle on the 2007 season
ESPN.com, August 30, 2007. On October 6, Booty suffered a broken finger in his throwing hand during a 24–23 loss to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

.Gary Klein
USC goes to backup plan
''Los Angeles Times'', October 12, 2007. He sat out the following three games before returning as the starting quarterback against Oregon State on November 3. On his return, the Trojans finished the season 5–0 and outscored opponents 165–68, culminating in a victory in the 2008 Rose Bowl, a sixth straight Pac-10 title and making the Trojans the first college football team to achieve six straight 11-win seasons.Bill Plaschke
USC's Booty has excelled despite injury, criticism
''Los Angeles Times'', January 2, 2008.Bill Dwyre
Carroll shows no signs of a fade pattern
''Los Angeles Times'', December 2, 2007.Eddie Pells
(6) USC 49, (13) Illinois 17
Associated Press, January 1, 2008. In leading the Trojans to a 49–17 Rose Bowl victory over the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic facili ...

, Booty set a Rose Bowl record with seven career touchdowns (in the 2007 and 2008 games) and was chosen as the Offensive MVP. Booty ended his career at USC with a 9–0 record against top-25 teams.

College statistics

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Booty broke from convention and stated on a national television broadcast, more than a week before the NFL draft, that he hoped to be selected by the

.Gary Klein and Chris Foster
Booty's wish does come true
''Los Angeles Times'', April 28, 2008,''Accessed April 28, 2008''. He was drafted by the Vikings in the fifth round (137th overall) of the

. Booty made the team after a pre-season battle for the third spot on the depth chart with

Brooks Bollinger Brooks Michael Bollinger (born November 15, 1979) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. He also was a member of the Florida Tu ...

. He did not take a snap in 2008, but after starter

Gus Frerotte Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa. Frerotte, who was selected t ...

went down with a lower back injury, Booty was listed as the second-string quarterback during the week 15 meeting with the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division, an ...

and Tarvaris Jackson made the start. With the signing of

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...

in the 2009 off season, Booty switched his jersey from #4 to #9. After an unimpressive performance in the pre-season, Booty was waived by the Vikings on September 5, 2009; he was subsequently signed to the team's practice squad.Rick Alonzo
QB John David Booty, assigned to practice squad, still hopes to catch on with Vikings
''Pioneer Press'', September 7, 2009, Accessed September 9, 2009. He was released from the practice squad on October 14, 2009, only to be re-signed to it on October 17. He was subsequently released from the Vikings again on October 21, 2009.

Tennessee Titans

Booty was signed to

practice squad on October 28, 2009.Gary Estwick and Jim Wyatt
Titans get Vincent Fuller back at practice
''The Tennessean'', October 29, 2009, Accessed October 29, 2009.

Houston Texans

After his contract with the Titans expired at the end of the 2009 season, Booty signed a future contract with the Houston Texans. Booty was waived as part of final cuts before the 2010 NFL season.

Personal life

Booty is the younger brother of former

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

quarterback Josh Booty (who threw for 3,951 yards and 24 touchdowns during two years with LSU's football team) and former LSU and

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU ...

wide receiver Abram Booty (who caught 117 passes for 1,768 yards during three years at LSU). His nephew, General, plays quarterback for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the " Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land R ...

. Josh also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

for the

. He is from the same hometown as

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst a ...

, Tommy Maddox and Art Carmody. Booty was high school backfield mates with former LSU and former San Diego Chargers running back Jacob Hester. Booty was roommates with then-USC center Ryan Kalil during the 2006 season. He is sometimes called "J.D.". Booty married his fiancée Jill in July 2009.

References

External links

*
Minnesota Viking profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booty, John David 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks Houston Texans players Minnesota Vikings players Tennessee Titans players USC Trojans football players Evangel Christian Academy players Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana