Kevin Eakin (born July 22, 1981) 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 was signed by the New York Jets of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) as a street free agent in 2005. He played college football at Fordham. Eakin was also a member of the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

, Tennessee Valley/Alabama Vipers, Georgia Force and

Alabama Hammers The Alabama Hammers were a professional indoor football team based in Huntsville, Alabama. The team played in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) from 2012 to 2015. The Hammers originally began play as an expansion team in the Southe ...

Early years

Eakin attended

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSDH or MSD) is a public high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. It was established in 1990 and is part of the Broward County Public Schools district. It is named after the writer Marjory Stoneman ...

Parkland, Florida Parkland is a suburban city, 42 miles northwest of Miami, in northern Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Parkland was 34,670. Parkland is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,16 ...

and was a student and a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he was a team captain and was named to the All-Broward County team. Kevin Eakin graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2000.

College career

Eakin was a 2 year starter for the Rams at Fordham University, starting his junior year and compiling a 19-6 record from 2002-2003, with 6,112 yards passing and 45 touchdowns for his career. In 2002, he led the Rams to their first ever

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective g ...

title.

Professional career

New York Jets

Eakin originally was signed by the New York Jets, who allocated him to the now-defunct Frankfurt Galaxy of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

, where he was the starting quarterback ahead of former heralded #3 overall draft pick Akili Smith. After being invited to Jets training camp in 2005, he appeared in 2 preseason games and was the last person cut before the season.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Eakin spent the next season in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

with the

, and spent most of the season as backup to controversial starter Jason Maas.

Buffalo Bills

After the

2006 CFL season The 2006 CFL season is considered to be the 53rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 49th Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 2006 It was announced on April 9, 2006 that the CFL had suspended the opera ...

, Eakin went right across the border and signed with the NFL's

, who once again allocated him to Frankfurt. With the demise of NFL Europa, Eakin returned to Buffalo, but because of depth issues (he stood fourth behind J. P. Losman, Craig Nall, and draft pick Trent Edwards), he saw no playing time and was released. However, after the release of third string QB Craig Nall, Eakin was signed onto the Buffalo Bills practice squad to serve as the team's emergency quarterback.

Team Alabama

Eakin signed with Team Alabama of the All American Football League for the 2008 season, but the league was postponed indefinitely.

Tennessee Valley / Alabama Vipers

He is now signed with the Tennessee Valley Vipers of the af2 for the 2009 season as starting quarterback. Eakin was the Vipers starter for the final 15 games of the season last year, including the four playoff wins.

References

Alabama Vipers bioCanadian Football League bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eakin, Kevin 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota Players of American football from Saint Paul, Minnesota American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian football quarterbacks Fordham Rams football players New York Jets players Frankfurt Galaxy players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Buffalo Bills players Tennessee Valley Vipers players Alabama Vipers players Georgia Force players Alabama Hammers players