Quentin LaVell Griffin (born January 12, 1981) 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 ...

player who was a

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 ...

for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

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 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

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

Early life

Griffin started his football career as a youth playing in the Humble Area Football League. Griffin starred at Nimitz High School in Houston.

College career

As a sophomore at

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, Griffin ran for 783 yards and 16

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 and added 45 receptions for 406 yards. He was an All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

first team selection and was named to the Big 12 All-academic team, his first of three consecutive nominations to both squads. Junior totals were 182 for 884 with 9 touchdowns on the ground with 55 for 448 and 2 touchdowns as a receiver, and as a senior totaled 287 carries for 1,884 yards with 15 scores, placing him second in the league for rushing. Also caught 35 passes for 264 yards with three additional scores. The three-year starter helped his school win a national championship in 2000 and he finished fourth in school history in career rushing yards (3,756), third in touchdowns (44) and chose to preserve

Billy Sims Billy Ray Sims (born September 18, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for five seasons with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1984. Sims played college football fo ...

’ record and finish second in

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing ...

(4,973). He had an Oklahoma-record six rushing touchdowns against

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in 2000.

Professional

Griffin was selected by the

of the

with the 11th pick of the fourth round (108th overall) in the

2003 NFL draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. He went on to appear in 16 games, including five starts in his initial two seasons in the league. He even set a Broncos franchise record in 2004 for most rushing yards in a season opener with a career-high 156 yards on 23 carries against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

while also scoring the first three touchdowns of his pro career. His rise to the top came to a sudden halt in 2004 when he tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 7, ending his season early. Although he was highly productive in two seasons with the Broncos, totaling 179 rushes for 656 yards (3.7 avg.) and two touchdowns, in addition to catching 18 passes for 129 yards and one score, the injury caused him to drop to the bottom of the

depth chart In sports, a depth chart, primarily in the United States, is used to show the placements of the starting players and the secondary players. Generally a starting player will be listed first or on top while a back-up will be listed below. Depth chart ...

behind Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell and Ron Dayne. In September 2005, Denver released Griffin and then brought him back a few weeks later, only to release him again the next month, but this time for good. In March 2006, Griffin agreed to terms with the Kansas City Chiefs on a one-year deal, but in September 2006, he was cut from the team. On February 23, 2007, Griffin was chosen by the Hamburg Sea Devils as the second overall pick in the

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

Free Agent Draft. Griffin was the Sea Devils' top rusher with a 4.6 yard average and was third-best among starting running backs in the NFLE. The multi-dimensional Griffin also led NFL Europa in kickoff return average. On February 29, 2008, he was signed to a one-year plus an option year contract with the

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 ...

. He was released by the Roughriders on June 20, 2008, following the team's final preseason game. According to media reports, Roughriders' head coach Ken Miller was "so upset with Griffin following (the game) that he cut the former NFLer at the airport." Griffin had reportedly pulled himself out of the game early in the second quarter, telling the coaches "he didn't have any interest in playing a preseason game where he might get hurt." In July 2013, Griffin signed with the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in Germany (GFL1). As of 2016, he is no longer on the team because the running back transitioned from playing football to coaching football.

Coaching

Griffin took his first coaching job with Missouri Southern State University. In July 2018, he left MSSU for the position of running backs coach for the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Panthers. After one season at UNI, Griffin took a position as Assistant Football Coach (Running Backs) at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Quentin 1981 births Living people Players of American football from Houston Players of Canadian football from Houston American football running backs Oklahoma Sooners football players Denver Broncos players Kansas City Chiefs players Hamburg Sea Devils players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Coaches of American football from Texas