Saleem Abdul Rasheed (born June 15, 1981) is a former American and

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

. Rasheed played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

at Shades Valley High School in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. As a senior, he was named the state's Gatorade Player of the Year. Rasheed played college football for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

between 1999–2001. He was selected to the

2001 All-SEC football team The 2001 All-SEC football team consists of American football players selected to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) chosen by various selectors for the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season. The LSU Tigers won the conference, upsetting the Te ...

. Rasheed was selected by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-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 of the league's National ...

in the third round of the

2002 NFL draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...

. As a rookie in 2002, he missed substantial playing time due to a nagging quadriceps injury. He also played for the Houston Texans though he was cut during the 2006 preseason. The

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third ...

signed him on May 7, 2008. He helped the Stampeders win the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

. On May 4, 2009, he was released. From 2009–11 he worked as a teacher and coach at Erwin High School. In February 2012, Rasheed was charged with

food stamp In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, ad ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

and falsifying documents in

. He pleaded guilty to receiving $5,551 dollars in food stamps while falsely claiming to be unemployed and, in July 2012, he was sentenced to eight months in prison. Rasheed also pleaded guilty to immigration fraud arising from his allegedly marrying a Moroccan woman and subsequently marrying an American woman without divorcing his first wife. In April 2013, Rasheed was sentenced to three years in prison for having sex with two students while a teacher at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham. Although the students were at or above the age of consent in Alabama, it is illegal for a teacher to have sex with students in the state.

References

External links

Saleem Rasheed
at stampeders.com
Saleem Rasheed
at NFL.com
Saleem Rasheed
at scout.com 1981 births Living people Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers Players of Canadian football from Birmingham, Alabama Alabama Crimson Tide football players San Francisco 49ers players Calgary Stampeders players African-American schoolteachers People convicted of sex crimes American people convicted of fraud People convicted of immigration fraud Prisoners and detainees of Alabama Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people {{linebacker-1980s-stub