Robert Strait (born November 14, 1969) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

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 ...

. Strait is considered one of the best high-school football players in

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 ...

history. While playing at Cuero High School from 1985 to 1988, Strait rushed for 8,411 yards on a state-record 1,131 carries, and scored 841 points. He had 41 games with more than 100 yards rushing for his career, which was then second to

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, 13 as a member of the Dallas Cowboys and 2 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals ...

's national record of 45 games and was the Texas state record until Wes Danaher broke the record in 1995 with 43 100-yard games. In 1987, Strait scored 372 points, which is second in Texas football history only to Ken Hall (395 points in 1953), while Cuero High won the 3A state championship. In 1985 and 1986, Cuero had lost the title game. Considered the state's top recruit in 1989 alongside

Jessie Armstead Jessie Willard Armstead (born October 26, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins between 1993 and 2 ...

, Strait accepted a scholarship offer by

Grant Teaff Grant Garland Teaff (; born November 12, 1933) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at McMurry University (1960–1965), Angelo State University (1969–1971), and Baylor University (1972–1992), compilin ...

to play for

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

. At the time, he was considered “the most heralded recruit in Baylor school history.” In the

1994 NFL draft The 1994 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 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Ma ...

he was picked by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

in the sixth round with the 171st pick overall. He never played in the NFL, though.

References

1969 births Living people Players of American football from DeWitt County, Texas Sportspeople from Cuero, Texas American football running backs Baylor Bears football players Cleveland Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen {{runningback-1960s-stub