Tiquan Underwood (born February 17, 1987) is an

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 ...

coach and former

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 ...

who currently serves as the assistant wide receivers coach for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). 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 ...

at Rutgers and was selected by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

in the seventh round of the

2009 NFL draft The 2009 NFL draft was the 74th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. The draft c ...

. Underwood was also a member of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

in the NFL. He also played for the

Hamilton Tiger Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Hamilton Stadiu ...

and

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). Underwood is known for his distinctive

hi-top fade Hi-top fade is a haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is grown long. The hi-top was a trend during the golden age of hip hop and urban contemporary music of the 1980s and the early 1990s. ...

hairstyle.

Early life

Underwood grew up in

North Brunswick, New Jersey North Brunswick is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is centrally located in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region within the New York metropolitan area. A ...

. He played for Notre Dame High School in

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. Underwood started as a wide receiver his sophomore and senior years. He was rated as a two-star recruit b
Rivals.com
and only received scholarship offers from Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Maryland.

College career

During the opening week of the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

college football season for

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 ...

, Underwood was one of four nominees for the AT&T All-America Player of the Week award. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Underwood was named a team captain. After the season, he was the recipient of the Loyal Knight Award, honoring the Rutgers player whose character and dedication have proved resilient in his pursuit of excellence.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Underwood was drafted 253rd overall in the seventh round of the

by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was waived on September 5, 2009. He was re-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 ...

on September 6. He was called up from the Jaguars practice squad on September 23, 2009. He was waived on August 25, 2011, after playing in 10 games in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

New England Patriots

On August 29, 2011, Underwood signed with the

. On September 3, five days after signing with Patriots, Underwood was cut. On November 8, 2011, Underwood was signed to the 53 man roster to boost a beleaguered kick return squad. He was released on November 12 and re-signed on November 23, 2011. On February 4, 2012, the night before

Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

, he was released. He was re-signed to the Patriots two days after the Super Bowl on February 7, 2012. He was cut again on May 3 after the Patriots had signed

Jabar Gaffney Derrick Jabar Gaffney (born December 1, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators, earning unanimous All-American ho ...

. On August 23, 2012, he received his own AFC Championship ring.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On May 7, 2012, Underwood signed with the

. He rejoined his former coach

Greg Schiano Gregory Edward Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach at Rutgers University, a position he held from 2001 to 2011 and resumed before the 2020 season. Schiano has the most wins in program ...

. Underwood was released by the Buccaneers on August 31, 2012, even though many felt he had an impressive training camp. On September 20, 2012, Tiquan was signed again by the Buccaneers when they released wide receiver Preston Parker. On October 21, 2012, Underwood caught his first touchdown pass of his career in a losing effort to the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

. He was released again by the Buccaneers on September 1, 2013, but then re-signed on October 2, 2013.

Carolina Panthers

Underwood signed with the

on March 21, 2014. He was released on August 24, 2014.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On April 2, 2015, Underwood signed with the

of the

(CFL). Underwood played in 14 games in the 2015 season and then 3 in the 2016 season before being released partway through the season in August 2016. In total he caught 45 passes for 711 yards with 3 touchdowns.

Montreal Alouettes

Underwood was signed to the

' practice roster on September 28, 2016. In his first season in Montreal Underwood played in 3 games catching 8 passes for 107 yards with one touchdown. Underwood was resigned for the 2017 season. On July 19, Underwood caught 5 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, giving him 1,000 yards receiving in both his CFL and NFL careers. He was released by the Alouettes on October 18, 2017.

Coaching career

Lafayette

Shortly after retiring from playing professional football, Underwood was hired as the wide receivers coach for Lafayette for the 2018 season. This was under John Garrett who was his wide receivers coach in Tampa with the Buccaneers.

Miami Dolphins

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Underwood was hired by the

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

as an offensive quality control coach.

Rutgers

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

after a season in Miami, Underwood returned to Rutgers where he played his college football as the team’s wide receivers coach under

, whom Underwood played for in college.

Pittsburgh

After two seasons at his alma mater, Underwood joined the staff at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in January 2022.

New England Patriots

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Underwood was hired by the New England Patriots as an assistant wide receivers coach under

Jerod Mayo Jerod Andrew Mayo Sr. (born February 23, 1986) is an American professional football coach and former linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons with the New England Patriots. He also served as the head coach ...

, who Underwood was teammates with in 2011.

Dallas Cowboys

On February 3, 2025, the

hired Underwood to serve as their assistant wide receivers coach.

References

External links

Hamilton Tiger Cats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, Tiquan 1987 births Living people African-American coaches of American football American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players Jacksonville Jaguars players New England Patriots players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Carolina Panthers players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Montreal Alouettes players Lafayette Leopards football coaches Miami Dolphins coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches Notre Dame High School (New Jersey) alumni Players of American football from New Brunswick, New Jersey 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen New England Patriots coaches Coaches of American football from New Jersey