Lovell Pinkney (born August 18, 1972) 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

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 ...

, and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. He was an All-conference player at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

and a fourth round draft pick of the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

of 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). He was with the Rams for two seasons, the Green Bay Packers for the 1997 training camp and with the

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL) for one season.

Early life

Pinkney was born in Washington, DC and played high school football at

Anacostia High School Anacostia High School is a public high school in Anacostia, in the Southeast (Washington, D.C.), Southeast quadrant of the District of Columbia. History In August 2009, Friendship Public Charter School partnered with DC Public Schools to manage ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He had been spotted by his high school football coach as a talent while playing football and basketball in junior high school, and enticed him to go to high school and play football instead of selling drugs on the corner, which is what he had been doing. He helped lead Anacostia to the DCIAA East title in 1991. He finished his career as first-team selection to the Washington Post All-Met football team, Washington, DC player of the year and a Parade All-American. He was recruited by several big schools including Miami and Syracuse, but chose Texas.

College career

Pinkney attended the

where he played football for the Longhorns from 1992 to 1994. He finished his career with 15 career receiving touchdowns, which was a school record at the time. In his freshman year he had the first of his four 100+ yard receiving games against

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

. In that game he had 140 yards receiving, which was a school record at the time for single-game receiving yards by a freshman and a 73 yard reception, which was also a school record for freshmen at the time. He also had 3 touchdown receptions that year which was, at the time, a school record for touchdown receptions by a freshman. That season he combined with fellow freshman Mike Adams for 729 yards receiving. That was also a school record at the time for most receiving yards by a duo of freshmen and as of 2024 was still the 2nd most ever. In his sophomore year he was a first-team All-Southwest Conference pick and had the three other 100+ yard receiving games including his career high 150 yards against SMU. In that game he caught a 61 yard pass from Shea Morenz that was, at the time, tied for the longest pass by a Freshman quarterback in school history. Prior to his junior year, he and Adams were investigated for a trip they took to Los Angeles out of concern that they had met with an agent. They were cleared, but were suspended for two games during the investigation and for initially lying about the trip. In his junior year he was named to the All-SWC second-team and helped the Longhorns to become Conference Co-Champions and win the 1994 Sun Bowl. He chose to forego his senior year and declare for the NFL draft early.

Professional career

Pinkney was selected by the Rams in the fourth round, #115 overall, of the 1995 NFL draft. The Rams moved him to tight end, but he only ended up playing eight games for them in 1995. He was cut by the Rams at the end of the 1996 training camp. During the 1996 playoffs he was signed by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

but did not play for them during the playoffs. He left the Packers during training camp in 1997 for personal reasons and was placed on waivers. In 1998 he played one season for the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League as wide receiver and linebacker.

References

External links

Stats Crew profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinkney, Lovell Living people 1972 births Players of American football from Washington, D.C. American football tight ends American football wide receivers Texas Longhorns football players St. Louis Rams players Grand Rapids Rampage players People from Southeast (Washington, D.C.) 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen Anacostia High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen