Sean Ryan Christopher Spence (born June 7, 1990) is an American

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 ...

coach and former professional

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 is the

s coach for

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

, a position he has held since 2024. He was selected by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

in the third round of the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. He played

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

, where he was named 2008

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

Defensive Rookie of the Year. Spence was also a member of the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

and

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

Early life

Miami Northwestern High School Miami Northwestern Senior High School is a public four-year high school located in Miami, Florida, United States. The school has struggled with test scores. It has had successful football and track programs and numerous alumni became professional ...

, Spence was part of the 2007

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

team as chosen by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''. His teammates included

Lavonte David Lavonte Lamar David (born January 23, 1990) is an American professional football linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, twice earning All-American ...

, Marcus Forston,

Jacory Harris Jacory Sherrod Harris (born May 12, 1990) is an American former professional football quarterback. Harris started for Miami Northwestern High School during his last two years; he was unbeaten (30–0) and led the team to two state championship ...

, Tommy Streeter, and Brandon Washington. As a senior, made more than 100

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

, with three

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackle (football move), tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the l ...

s, two interceptions (one for a TD). As a junior in 2006, made 147 tackles, 10 for losses, with two interceptions (one for a touchdown) and three sacks. Spence played in the inaugural

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game wa ...

. Considered a four-star recruit by '' Rivals.com'', Spence was listed as the No. 13 outside linebacker in the nation.

College career

Playing as a

true freshman The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see '' Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

, Spence was a starter in the

's final eight games, and ranked third on the team with 62 tackles to go along with 7.5 tackles for loss, and a pair of sacks. He was named to ''College Football News′'' All-Freshman first team, as well as ''Rivals.com′s'' 2008 Freshman All-America team. Four weeks into the 2010 season, Spence had team-highs in tackles (38) and tackles for loss (6.5) in only four games. At the end of the 2011 season, Spence earned first-team All-ACC recognition for the 2011 season. The senior captain, who tied for fifth place in the

with 106 total tackles in 2011, ended the year second among all NCAA players with 47 career tackles for loss, including 14.0 in 2011. A semifinalist for the Butkus Award, Spence averaged 9.64 tackles per game (fourth in conference) and 1.27 tackles for loss per game (third in conference) in 2011. He finished the season with three sacks, one pass break-up and one forced fumble.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers (first stint)

The

selected Spence in the third round (86th overall) of the

. He was the 11th linebacker selected in 2012. On May 29, 2012, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Spence to a four-year, $2.70 million contract. He suffered a serious knee injury during the preseason and was declared out for the entire 2012 season. On August 25, 2013, the Steelers placed Spence on the Reserve/Physically Unable To Perform (PUP) List. Three weeks after being taken off of the PUP list, the Steelers placed Spence on injured reserve, ending his injury-ridden 2013 season. Sean Spence finished the 2014 season with 53 tackles and 1 sack for the Steelers, finishing with a record of 11–5 and winning the

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was created after the NFL realign ...

Division. Spence, who missed one game and didn't finish two due to hamstring injuries, had 37 tackles and a sack as the Steelers completed the 2015 regular season with a 10–6 mark. The Steelers won their first round playoff game against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

before dropping the next to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Tennessee Titans

On March 16, 2016, the

signed Spence to a one-year, $2.5 million contract, reuniting him with former Steelers defensive coordinator

Dick LeBeau Charles Richard LeBeau ( ; born September 9, 1937) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL) He was active at field level in the NFL for 59 consecutive seasons, 14 playing as a cornerback ...

. Spence finished the 2016 season with 50 tackles, three sacks, and one forced fumble.

Indianapolis Colts

On March 19, 2017, Spence signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the

. On September 2, 2017, the Colts released Spence as part of the final roster cuts. He was re-signed on September 13, 2017. He was released again on October 3, 2017.

Pittsburgh Steelers (second stint)

On December 5, 2017, the Steelers signed Spence to a one-year, $775,000 contract after injuries to Ryan Shazier and Tyler Matakevich.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

NFL Combine bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Sean 1990 births Living people 2011 University of Miami athletics scandal American football linebackers Indianapolis Colts players Miami Hurricanes football players Miami Northwestern Senior High School alumni Players of American football from Miami Pittsburgh Steelers players Tennessee Titans players Under Armour All-American football players