Steven Charles Emtman (born April 16, 1970) is a former professional

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

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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

and was selected first overall by the

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...

in the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 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 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott ...

. He also played for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

before retiring following the 1997 season.

Early life

Emtman was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

, grew up in nearby Cheney, and graduated from Cheney High School in 1988. Lightly recruited, he accepted a football scholarship to the

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to play for head coach Don James.

College career

He redshirted in 1988, but soon became a star as a sophomore on a resurgent defense in 1990. Washington went 10-2 and won the Rose Bowl for the first time in 9 seasons. He was considered the best overall player on the 1991 Husky undefeated national championship team. A consensus All-American, Emtman won the Outland Trophy, Lombardi Award, was the Bill Willis Award winner and the

UPI Lineman of the Year The United Press International Lineman of the Year award was given annually by United Press International (UPI) to the lineman of the year in college football. With the demise of UPI in 1997, the award was discontinued. Offensive and defensive li ...

. He was also named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year during his impressive junior year of 1991. He finished fourth in the ballot for the Heisman Trophy. Emtman finished 1991 with 62 tackles and 20.5 tackles for loss. He was voted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

in 2006.

Professional career

Emtman decided to forgo his senior year and declared himself eligible for the

. At 6'4" and , he was the first overall pick, selected by the

. His most memorable play was the game-sealing 90-yard interception return for a touchdown as time expired in a 31–20 upset win at the

in his rookie year, which earned him honors as AFC defensive player of the week. Emtman's NFL career was marred by injuries. Playing a majority of his games on Astroturf, he finished each of his three seasons with the Colts on the injured reserve list. Nine games into his rookie year, he blew out his left knee against the Miami Dolphins. The following season, he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee, an injury that no previous

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

player had ever returned from. In October

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

, he beat the odds and made his comeback at home against the team he had grown up following, the Seattle Seahawks. On his first play, he tackled Chris Warren for a 5-yard loss. However, in the second quarter, he ruptured a disc in his neck in a collision with a teammate. Emtman continued to play, even though after the game, he could not close his fists due to nerve damage from the injury. He managed to play three more weeks until continuing pain forced him to undergo season-ending surgery. He later played for the

and

. His playing career ended following the 1997 season at the age of 27.

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Emtman had a cameo appearance as himself in the 1994 feature film '' Little Giants'', along with Bruce Smith, Tim Brown, Emmitt Smith, and John Madden. He also appeared as an uncredited zombie in the TV series '' Z Nation''. His son was the zombie baby from the first episode. Emtman formerly volunteered as the defensive line coach for the af2's Spokane Shock. Emtman now lives in Spokane Valley, Washington, where he is a real estate developer.

References

External links

1992 NFL Draft
– 1st overall pick

– top defensive finishers {{DEFAULTSORT:Emtman, Steve 1970 births Living people People from Cheney, Washington Players of American football from Spokane, Washington American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Washington Huskies football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees National Football League first-overall draft picks Indianapolis Colts players Miami Dolphins players Washington Redskins players American real estate businesspeople Ed Block Courage Award recipients