Robert William McQuarters, II (born December 21, 1976) 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

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

in 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 selected by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

in the first round of the

1998 NFL draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

. 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 State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...

College career

McQuarters was known as one of the most versatile players in

during his time at Oklahoma State, playing

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 ...

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

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

. He started nine games at wide receiver as a junior and finished his college career with eight receptions for 245 yards (30.6 avg.) and two touchdowns. He rushed for 69 yards on two carries and one touchdown. He ranked second in the nation and set a school record with 521 punt return yards for a 16.3-yard average and one touchdown and added 195 yards on eight kickoff returns for an average of 24.4 yards per attempt. McQuarters played

Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball The Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball team represents Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States in NCAA Division I men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, ...

for three years. Prior to attending OSU, McQuarters played basketball at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa. McQuarters played for coach Nate Harris who, in 1996, coached the West Team in the McDonald's High School All-American Game.

Professional career

He is a favorite of former Detroit Lions coach

Steve Mariucci Stephen Ray Mariucci (born November 4, 1955), nicknamed "Mooch", is an American sportscaster and former football coach who was the head coach of two National Football League (NFL) teams, the San Francisco 49ers ( 1997– 2002) and the Detroit L ...

, who drafted him with the 28th overall pick in the first round when Mariucci was

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the 49ers, then signed him as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the Lions. As a member of the New York Giants, McQuarters had a key interception in a 2007 NFC divisional playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys that sealed New York's victory. McQuarters earned a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl ring offers a collectible memento for the actual players and t ...

with the Giants in

Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

beating the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Legal history

In October 2006, a Chicago judge dismissed McQuarters's claims that a bank wrongfully declared him in default on $1.3 million in loans. McQuarters claimed in a

countersuit In a court of law, a party's claim is a counterclaim if one party asserts claims in response to the claims of another. In other words, if a plaintiff initiates a lawsuit and a defendant responds to the lawsuit with claims of their own against t ...

that the bank's representatives had violated

consumer fraud Consumer fraud are deceptive practices which result in financial losses of consumers. Common fraudulent tactics include false promises and inaccurate claims, as well as outright cheating. Types of consumer fraud The United States Office of the Com ...

acts and its employees had forged his signature on bank documents. The judge ordered him to pay the bank's legal fees of about $20,000.

Personal life

McQuarters was known for his long

dreadlocks Dreadlocks, also known as dreads or locs, are a Hairstyle, hairstyle made of rope-like strands of matted hair. Dreadlocks can form naturally in Hair#Texture, very curly hair, or they can be created with techniques like twisting, Backcombing, ba ...

which he cut in 2007 after growing them out starting in 1998. McQuarters donated the hair to

Locks of Love Locks of Love is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that provides custom-made hair prosthetics to disadvantaged children up to the age of 21 who have suffered hair loss as a result of medical conditions, such as alopecia, burn trauma, and cancer treatm ...

. McQuarters is known for wearing a variety of band-aids under one or both eyes, including those depicting the Nickelodeon character

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

. On April 29, 2011, McQuarters was shot once in the back as he departed a friend's house in Tulsa. McQuarters was not seriously hurt, and was able to drive himself to the hospital. He described the gunman as a man wearing a ski mask.

References

External links

College football statistics
at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

College basketball statistics
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:McQuarters, R. W. 1976 births Living people Players of American football from Tulsa, Oklahoma American football cornerbacks American shooting survivors Booker T. Washington High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma) alumni Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players San Francisco 49ers players Chicago Bears players Detroit Lions players New York Giants players American men's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen