Sean Salisbury

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Sean Salisbury

Sean Salisbury in 1993
Date of birth March 9, 1963
Place of birth Long Beach, California
Position(s) Quarterback
College Southern California
Statistics
Team(s)
1987
1988-1990
1992-1994
1996
Indianapolis Colts
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Minnesota Vikings
San Diego Chargers

Richard Sean Salisbury (born March 9, 1963 in Long Beach, California) is a football analyst and former NFL quarterback.

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[edit] Early life

He grew up in Long Beach and North San Diego County where he went to Orange Glen high school in Escondido, California. Salisbury has one older sister, one older brother, Curt, who acted as Sean's agent, and younger brother Brett Salisbury who was also an All-American collegiate quarterback, professional european QB and a top male model and actor.

During Sean's senior year in High School he was the highest recruited Quarterback in the nation, choosing USC over UCLA, BYU, Stanford, Notre Dame, Cal, University of Arizona, and Arizona State. A top high school basketball player as well, UCLA and USC both offered Salisbury basketball scholarships.

It has been said that Salisbury was more highly recruited that John Elway out of high school and that Gerry Faust, then Notre Dame head coach flew into Escondido and bet Sean, that if made a shot from about 40', on the basketball court, "Salisbury must sign with Notre Dame." Salisbury agreed. Faust ended up making the shot, forcing Salisbury in a funny yet awkward moment. Salisbury later chose the USC Trojans over Notre Dame breaking the promise.

Many high school and college coaches felt Salisbury was a better basketball player than football and could have easily played in the NBA. Salisbury averaged 26.5 points per game his senior year and was a high school All-American basketball player.

Salisbury hit over .320 his senior year of high school on the Orange Glen baseball team, playing both the outfield, and first base as well as pitching. He was offered a tryout with the Cincinnati Reds because of his great arm, throwing well over a 90 MPH fastball.

[edit] College Career

Salisbury played college football at the University of Southern California. Although many attempts were made for Sean to play basketball at the University, Salisbury never agreed as he wanted to "focus on football only."

[edit] Professional Career

During his eight-year career, Salisbury played for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, and San Diego Chargers, as well as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. Salisbury finished his career with 3,824 passing yards, 19 touchdown passes, and 19 interceptions.

In 1988, Sean Salisbury led the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a Grey Cup victory over Matt Dunigan and the British Columbia Lions.

[edit] Broadcaster

After getting his start on the Comedy Central show BattleBots, Salisbury went on to become an NFL analyst on ESPN, appearing on SportsCenter and NFL Live. He is well known for teasing fellow analyst John Clayton in the Sportscenter segment Four Downs. Clayton once famously got back at Salisbury. During an argument, Salisbury attempted to prove his point by telling Clayton, "You never played in the NFL." Clayton, noting that Salisbury spent most of his career as a backup quarterback on the sidelines (he received about a year's worth of NFL snaps in an eight year career), fired back, "neither did you!"

In 2004, Sean was offered a job with the Arizona Cardinals by his former coach and fellow co-worker at ESPN, Dennis Green, to become their new quarterbacks coach. Salisbury pondered for weeks, but eventually declined and stayed on with ESPN.

Salisbury was hired as a consultant for the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. On the set, Sean taught Adam Sandler proper quarterback mechanics, cadences, and footwork. Sandler later offered Salisbury a role in the 2006 film, The Benchwarmers.

On May 9, 2006 Salisbury was given a local radio program on ESPN Radio 1000, Chicago. He also did guest spots on the ESPN Classic comedy program Cheap Seats, where he provided his signature breakdowns of the action in a more comedic manner.

The Boston-based free newspaper Barstool Sports often features a section called "Sean Salisbury is Angry at You." The section is devoted to quotes that show Salisbury's signature tone in a way that makes it seem as if he is angry at his listening audience, and he is trying to tell them why they are wrong on an issue.

ESPN will not give the exact number but Salisbury is reportedly making over $1 million dollars per year with the sports network.

In November 2006, Sean's father Richard Salisbury was diagnosed with Mesothelioma cancer. A median survival time of 6 - 12 months after presentation, is expected, as the cancer is very aggressive. The exposure to the asbestos that caused the cancer occurred many years to several decades before the disease appeared. Sean Salisbury had LASIK surgery performed by Dr. Glenn Kawesch.

[edit] External links