Shawn Foreman (born June 3, 1975) 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. In his career, Foreman has played for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

, the

Oklahoma Wranglers The Oklahoma Wranglers were a professional arena football team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They were members of the Central (1996–1997) and Western (1998–2001) Division of the American Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). Th ...

, the

Indiana Firebirds The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana ...

, and the

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena ...

High school career

Foreman attended Indian River High School in

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, making it the second-most populous city in Virginia, the tenth largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 92nd-most populous city in the ...

. While there, he was a First-team All-City, All-County, All-Area & All-Tidewater Conference choice as a wide receiver, and also Class AAA All-Virginia honors. Foreman caught a record 62 passes for 1,008 yards as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He was also a standout

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. In 1995 Foreman decided that he wanted to be a school teacher.

College career

While at West Virginia, Foreman majored in

Child Development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. It is—particularly from birth to five years— a foundation ...

and Family Studies. He was a member of the Athletic Director's Academic

Honor Roll An honors student or honor student is a student recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their coursework at school. United States In the United States, honors students may refer to: # Students recognized for their academic achievem ...

and he was also a recipient of the Gail W. Cunningham endowed scholarship. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

as a freshman, Foreman was a back-up

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

until switching to

Flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

for the last month of the season. He recorded 15 tackles (six solos) with a

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

recovery. In three games on offense, he caught four passes for 56 yards. Against

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, Foreman recorded a blocked punt which he recovered, and recorded four tackles. Against

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

, Foreman played both offense and defense, recording one reception for five yards, and three tackles. In the

Backyard Brawl The Backyard Brawl is an American college sports rivalry between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. While historically a rivalry between the two schools' football programs, the term "Backyar ...

, Foreman recorded a season-long 23-yard reception. In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

as a sophomore, Foreman appeared in every game of the season as a back-up wide receiver. He finished the season with 25 catches for 415 yards a 16.6 yards per reception average and three

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. He also served as a back-up

, recording six tackles (two solos). Against Rutgers, he recorded two touchdown receptions, 23 and 48-yards, as well as six catches for 164 yards. In

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

as a junior, Foreman was an All-

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

First-team selection. He led the conference and set a school single-season record with 77 receptions, for 928 yards averaging 12.1 yards per reception, (third-best season total in WVU history) and five touchdowns. Against

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, he recorded 12 receptions, tying a school record, for 110 yards in the

Carquest Bowl The Pop-Tarts Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. Originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic, it has undergone many name changes due to sponsorship rights. The bowl is op ...

. While being a year away from his degree, Foreman said, that he would possibly go to graduate school, and that if the NFL did not interfere, that he had his heart set on going back to school, as an elementary school teacher. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

as a senior, Foreman was an All-Big East First-team selection once again. He received the Iron Mountaineer Award as the top performer in the winter workout program. He served as an offensive co-captain for the Mountaineers. He started every game of the season at flanker, finishing second on the team with 63 receptions for 948 yards, a 15.0 yards per reception average, and eight touchdowns. Only David Saunders (1,043 in 1996) gained more yards receiving in a single-season for the Mountaineers. Foreman also recorded two tackles. Against

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

in the Insight.com Bowl, he ended his college career with a career-high 11 receptions for 189 yards. His 11 receptions ranked fifth on the school’s record books and his 189 yards ranked sixth.

Career statistics

Shawn Foreman
Foremnas 169 career receptions rank second on the West Virginia all-time receptions list. His 2,347 receiving yards ranks third on the West Virginia all-time receiving yardage list. Foreman's 16 career touchdown receptions is tied for seventh best on the West Virginia all-time touchdown receptions list.

Professional career

National Football League (1999)

Foreman went unselected in the

1999 NFL draft The 1999 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 17–18, 1999, at the Theater at M ...

, though he later signed with the

on April 20. However, he failed to make the team and was later released. He was out of football in 2000.

Arena Football League (2001–2004)

Oklahoma Wranglers (2001)

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, Foreman entered the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

with the

. During his rookie season, he finished third on the team in receiving. For the season, he recorded 33 receptions for 406 yards and nine touchdowns.Oklahoma Wrangler - Team History - 2001
/ref> He also finished third on defense, with 24.5 tackles, one pass break up, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one interception.

Dallas Desperados

Foreman signed with the

Dallas Desperados The Dallas Desperados were a professional arena football team based in Dallas, Texas. They played in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League from to . The franchise began as an expansion team and posted a winning record in all but o ...

for 2002. He was waived on March 25, 2002.

Indiana Firebirds (2002–2003)

On April 12, 2002, Foreman was signed by the

.Transactions Thursday's Sports Transactions By The Associated Press Football
For the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, he finished eight on the team in receiving, only playing in four game. He had five receptions for 29 yards.Indiana Firebirds - Team History - 2002
/ref> He also, finished fourth on the team in defense, recording 36 tackles, one pass break up, one fumble recovery, and one interception for 16 yards. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, Foreman finished 10th on the team in receiving. For the season he recorded five receptions for 78 yards, and three touchdowns.Indiana Firebirds - Team History - 2003
/ref> He also finished fifth on the team in defense, recording 41.5 tackles, one pass broken up, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and three interceptions for 21 yards, and once again only playing in four games. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Foreman joined the

, he finished sixth on the team in receiving. He recorded 25 receptions for 296 yards, and six touchdowns.Grand Rapids Rampage - Team History - 2004
/ref> He also finished 12th on the team in defense, recording 15 tackles, one pass broken up, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one interception. During his last appearance of the season, and subsequently his career, week 14 against the

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. The team was founded in 2001 and played in the Arena Football League's Central Division. The Rush qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 12 AFL seasons, during w ...

, Foreman recorded one reception for 18 yards.

Career statistics

Notes

External links

College profile
at CBSSports.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Foreman, Shawn 1975 births Living people Players of American football from Chesapeake, Virginia American football wide receivers American football linebackers West Virginia Mountaineers football players New York Jets players Oklahoma Wranglers players Indiana Firebirds players Grand Rapids Rampage players Dallas Desperados players