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Troy Edwards (born April 7, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a
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 ...
for seven seasons in 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 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, became one of the most prolific receivers in college football history. He earned All-American honors and won the Fred Biletnikoff Award. Edwards was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 1999 NFL draft, and played for the Steelers, St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Detroit Lions of the NFL. He also played for the Grand Rapids Rampage of 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 ...
(AFL).


Early life

Edwards was born in
Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...
. He attended Huntington High School in Shreveport, where he played
high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...
.


College career

Edwards attended Louisiana Tech University, where he played for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team from 1995 to 1998. As a senior in 1998, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the season's outstanding college football receiver at the conclusion of the 1998 season. In the 1998 season opener versus the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Edwards had 21 catches for 405 yards—the most ever receiving yards in a single game by a college player. His twenty-seven touchdown catches during his 1998 senior year remains the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
Division I-A season record. He held the NCAA career record for touchdown receptions with fifty until it was broken by the
Rice Owls The Rice Owls are the sports teams representing Houston's Rice University in college sports. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of the American Athletic Conference, Rice sponsors ...
' Jarett Dillard. His 140 single-season receptions are the third most in Division I-A history, and his 1,996 receiving yards gained during his senior season remain the second most in Division I-A history.


Professional career

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Edwards in the first round (13th pick overall) in the 1999 NFL draft after the team lost out on David Boston to the
Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...
, making him the team's first draft pick from Louisiana Tech since selecting Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw first overall in the 1970 NFL draft. Despite high expectations for Edwards, he was quickly passed on the depth chart by other receivers, including Plaxico Burress (the team's first round pick the following year) and most notably Hines Ward, whom the Steelers used a 3rd round pick on the year before Edwards and was initially considered an afterthought when Edwards was drafted. This, combined with head coach Bill Cowher's tendency to run the football, inconsistency at the quarterback position from Kordell Stewart and various backups, and a rare decline in the Steelers on-field success led to Edwards openly admitting to his unhappiness in a 2001 radio interview—a year in which the Steelers returned to
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
contender status. Years later, Edwards admitted that he should have handled his time better in Pittsburgh and blamed his immaturity for failing to live up to expectations. In 2002, Edwards was traded to the St. Louis Rams, where he played a single season. He also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars in and , and the Detroit Lions in . In seven NFL seasons, he played in ninety-two games, started twenty-two of them, caught 203 passes for 2,404 yards and eleven touchdowns, and also compiled 1,560 punt return yards. He finished his professional football career with the Grand Rapids Rampage of 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 ...
in 2007.


NFL statistics


See also

* List of NCAA major college football yearly receiving leaders * List of NCAA Division I FBS career receiving touchdowns leaders * List of NCAA major college football yearly scoring leaders * List of Arena Football League and National Football League players


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Troy 1977 births Living people All-American college football players American football wide receivers Detroit Lions players Grand Rapids Rampage players Jacksonville Jaguars players Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football players Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana Pittsburgh Steelers players St. Louis Rams players