Loucheiz Purifoy (born December 16, 1992) is an American 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 ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. Purifoy 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

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 ...

. He signed with the

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 an undrafted free agent after the

2014 NFL draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

, and has also been a member of the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

, and

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division (CFL), West Division and plays their home games at Commonw ...

Early life

Purifoy was born in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He attended

Pine Forest High School Pine Forest High School is a high school in Pensacola, Florida. It was opened in 1975, with the first day of class being 10 November '75. Pine Forest High is located on Longleaf Drive in a cluster of education buildings. Athletics Pine Fores ...

in Pensacola, where he played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

. He played

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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

in the Eagles' split-back veer offense. He was also a long jumper and sprinter for the Pine Forest track team. Purifoy was a standout in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

, posting personal marks of 7.21 meters and 14.68 meters, respectively. In addition, he competed in the

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

, recording a personal best of 22.08 seconds.

College career

Purifoy accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

, where he played for coach

Will Muschamp William Lawrence Muschamp (born August 3, 1971) is an American football coach and former player who is a defensive analyst at the University of Georgia. He previously served as the Bulldogs' co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2022 ...

Florida Gators football 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 ...

team from

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. As a true freshman in 2011, he played in all thirteen games as a reserve cornerback and on special teams. As a sophomore in 2012, he started twelve of thirteen games, recording 51 tackles. As a junior in 2013, he started seven of eleven games, recording 24 tackles, two interceptions and two

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackle (football move), tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the l ...

s. On November 30, 2013, Purifoy announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

Purifoy's problems off the field may have contributed to a slip from a late draft pick to an undrafted free agent. On May 12, 2014, it was announced that the

agreed to terms with Purifoy. Purifoy went into the preseason with a competition with fellow cornerback Marcus Burley. Both performed well and cutting either would be difficult, so the Colts traded Burley to the

for a sixth round draft pick. The Colts kept Purifoy and was on their initial 53-man roster. Purifoy dressed for 11 games during the 2014 season, seeing his snap count increase over the course of the year. He was waived on November 27.

Seattle Seahawks

Purifoy was claimed off waivers by the

on November 28, 2014, but was waived after a failed physical on December 1, 2014. Whilst a free agent, Purifoy was suspended by the NFL for the first ten weeks of the 2015 season, most likely for violating the substance abuse policy.

BC Lions (first stint)

On March 21, 2016, Purifoy signed a contract with the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. According to Lions head coach

Wally Buono Pasquale "Wally" Buono (born February 7, 1950) is a Canadian ex-football coach currently working as the vice president of football operations, alternate governor and the former head coach of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), a ...

, Purifoy had a very impressive first season in the CFL. He was, however, deemed ineligible for rookie of the year consideration based on the fact that he had dressed for an NFL regular season game in the past. Purifoy had a strong second season with the Lions in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, amassing 49 defensive tackles, three special teams tackles and three interceptions. Following the 2017 season, Purifoy was not re-signed by the Lions and became a free agent.

Ottawa Redblacks

On the first day of free agency, February 13, 2018, Purifoy was signed to a one-year contract by the

. He played in the Redblacks first seven games of the season and contributed with 29 tackles, one interception and a forced fumble. Purifoy was released by the Redblacks on August 6, 2018.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

One day after being released by the Redblacks, Purifoy signed with the

BC Lions (second stint)

On the first day of free agency, on February 8, 2022, Purifoy signed with the Lions. Purifoy played in all 18 regular season games for the Lions and contributed with 55 tackles, nine special-teams tackles, three interceptions and a sack. He was named a CFL All-Star for his performance. He was released on January 4, 2023. He was due a $30,000 roster bonus in mid-February 2023.

Edmonton Elks

On January 9, 2023, it was announced that Purifoy had signed with the

References

External links

Edmonton Elks bioFlorida Gators bioNFL Combine profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purifoy, Loucheiz 1992 births Living people American football cornerbacks BC Lions players Canadian football defensive backs Edmonton Elks players Florida Gators football players Indianapolis Colts players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of American football from Pensacola, Florida Seattle Seahawks players Players of Canadian football from Pensacola, Florida Saskatchewan Roughriders players Pine Forest High School alumni