Stephen Sullivan (born November 28, 1996) is an American 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

. 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 LSU Tigers and was a part of their national championship win in 2020. In college he played

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 was selected by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL draft.

Early life

Sullivan spent his childhood in

Irving, Texas Irving is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and is an Inner suburb, inner city suburb of Dallas. Irving is noted for its #Demographics, racial and ethnic diver ...

, where he lived in extreme poverty and at times experienced homelessness. His youth football coach offered to let Sullivan live with him. While Sullivan originally planned on attending Nimitz High School, he opted to move to Donaldsonville, Louisiana and stay with family and enroll at Donaldsonville High School. He eventually moved out of his aunt's house and stayed with the family of a teammate. Sullivan excelled in football at Donaldsonville and caught 57 passes for 987 yards and 11

touchdowns 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 ...

as a junior. As a senior, he was named first-team All-State after finishing the year with 57 receptions for 1,159 yards. Sullivan was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

over offers from TCU and

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

College career

Sullivan spent his first two seasons playing special teams and was used on offense primarily as a blocking receiver. As a sophomore, he had 11 receptions for 219 yards and a touchdown while also rushing twice for five yards and a touchdown. LSU's coaching staff worked out Sullivan at tight end going into his junior season before ultimately moving him back to receiver. As a junior, he finished second on the team with 23 receptions and 363 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns. Sullivan spent most of his senior season as the Tigers' second tight end, catching 12 passes for 130 yards as the Tigers won the 2020 National Championship.

Professional career

Seattle Seahawks

Sullivan was selected by the

in the seventh round with the 251st overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. He was waived on September 5, 2020, and signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

the next day. While on the practice squad, the Seahawks listed Sullivan as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

as well as

after he began practicing at both positions. He was elevated to the active roster on October 31 for the team's week 8 game against 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 ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after the game. He was placed on the practice squad/injured list on November 23, 2020. His practice squad contract with the team expired after the season on January 18, 2021.

Carolina Panthers

On February 3, 2021, Sullivan signed a reserve/futures contract with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

. He was waived on August 31, 2021, and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. On January 8, 2022, Sullivan was promoted to the active roster ahead of the week 17 matchup against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

. In 2022, Sullivan played in 14 games for Carolina, recording two receptions for 46 yards. On January 9, 2023, Sullivan signed a futures/reserve contract with the Panthers. On August 31, 2023, Sullivan was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

. He was activated on October 14. On January 8, 2024, the Panthers signed Sullivan to a one-year contract extension. He was placed on injured reserve on August 1 and released with an injury settlement one week later. He was re-signed to the practice squad on September 30.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Stephen 1996 births Living people Players of American football from Irving, Texas American football tight ends American football wide receivers LSU Tigers football players Seattle Seahawks players Carolina Panthers players