Tony Pike
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Anthony Steven Pike (born March 10, 1986) is an American former 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 ...
player who was a
quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
for 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 ...
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 ...
for the
Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the college sports, athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Bearcats were pr ...
and was selected by the Panthers in the sixth round of the
2010 NFL draft The 2010 NFL draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 NFL draft, draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the first ...
.


Early life

Born to Steve and Cheri Pike, Tony attended Reading High School, where he was named Cincinnati Division II-III Player of the Year as a senior at
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 ...
. As a senior, he completed 319 of 531 passes for 4,355 yards and 46 touchdowns, earning first-team all-state honors. Pike also played
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 ...
, helping the Blue Devils win a state title as a junior and reach the regional finals as a senior.


College career

Pike enrolled at
University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
in January 2005. He was redshirted for the 2005 season. In 2007, he made his collegiate debut against Southeast Missouri State, Pike finished the night 6-of-9 for 57 yards and a touchdown. In 2008 college football season, Dustin Grutza was the named the team's starting quarterback following Ben Mauk's failure to gain a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA. In a 52–26 loss to
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...
, a team that would play for the national championship that season, Grutza broke his ankle and was replaced by Pike. The Bearcats traveled to
Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
to play the
Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...
. Against the Zips, Pike broke his arm and was replaced by
redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...
freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...
Zach Collaros Zachary J. Collaros (born August 27, 1988) is an American professional Canadian football, football quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Collaros won the 107th Grey Cup and 108th Grey Cup as the startin ...
, who led the Bearcats to a 17–15 victory. After returning as starting quarterback, Cincinnati recovered to beat two top-25 opponents, No. 23
South Florida Bulls The South Florida Bulls (also known as the USF Bulls) are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, a n ...
and No. 20
West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The Mountaineers have been a membe ...
. Pike led the team to the outright 2008 Big East Championship, and the Bearcats played in their first-ever BCS bowl game, the 2009 Orange Bowl. He finished the regular season 183–291 passing for 2,168 yards and 18 touchdowns. He completed 63 percent of his passes and finished second in the
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 ...
passing efficiency list with 141.07. Pike was named to the 2008 All-Mayday Team by
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
college football analyst Mark May. He also was named to the Second-Team All-Big East Team. Pike enjoyed even more success in 2009. Despite missing three games due to a re-injury of his broken non-throwing arm (when he was again replaced by Collaros), Pike threw for 2,520 yards and 29 touchdowns, including a school-record six touchdowns in a single game against Illinois. Pike threw just six interceptions in 2009, and led the 2009 Bearcats to a 12–0 regular season and second straight outright Big East title. The team finished the regular season at No. 3 in the BCS rankings, and was invited to the
2010 Sugar Bowl The 2010 Allstate Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season and was the 76th Sugar Bowl. The Florida Gators defeated the Cincinnati B ...
.


Statistics


Professional career

Pike was selected by 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 ...
in the sixth round (204th overall) of the
2010 NFL draft The 2010 NFL draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 NFL draft, draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the first ...
. He competed with fellow rookie Jimmy Clausen for playing time behind incumbent Matt Moore in 2010. In week 9 of his rookie season against 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 ...
, Pike made his NFL debut after Clausen (who had replaced an injured Moore earlier in the game) was benched. He was 6–12 for 47 yards and was sacked once. The Panthers lost 34–3 and fell to 1–7. Pike was waived/injured on August 30, 2011, and was given an injury settlement. Pike had two elbow surgeries, the second in March 2012. In the Spring of 2012, he participated in tryouts for 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 ...
. He was not signed and offensive coordinator Jay Gruden commented that "He doesn't have enough confidence in his elbow to zip the ball and let it loose."


Statistics

''Source'':


Personal life

At the end of his football career, Pike made a move to become a
sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...
in Cincinnati. He hosts a regular sports talk show noon-3 p.m. on ESPN 1530 and contributes to
Cincinnati Bearcats football The Cincinnati Bearcats football team represents the University of Cincinnati in college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the Big 12 Conference. They have played their home games in histo ...
broadcasts. Pike and his wife Meredith have two children.


References


External links


Cincinnati Bearcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pike, Tony 1986 births Living people Players of American football from Cincinnati American football quarterbacks Cincinnati Bearcats football players Carolina Panthers players