Cosey Coleman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cosey Coleman | |
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| Date of birth: | October 27, 1978 |
| Place of birth: | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Career information | |
| Position(s): | Guard |
| College: | University of Tennessee |
| NFL Draft: | 2000 / Round: 2 |
| Organizations | |
| As player: | |
| 2000-2004 2005-2006 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cleveland Browns |
Cosey Casey Coleman (born October 27, 1978) is a former offensive guard for the Cleveland Browns, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. Coleman earned USA Today All-America honors at Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, Georgia before attending the University of Tennessee.
Coleman began his Tennessee career in 1997 and a total of 30 games over his 35-game career. He began to blossom in his sophomore year of 1998, as he started all 13 games and led the Vols to an SEC title and a national championship following a 23-16 win in the Fiesta Bowl. For his stellar play during that season, including going the entire year without allowing a quarterback sack, Coleman was named first-team All-SEC and second-team All-American. He continued to improve further and earned first-team All-SEC and consensus first-team All-American honors for his junior year of 1999. Coleman left Tennessee after the 1999 season and was drafted in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft (37th overall) by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As a rookie with Tampa Bay in 2000, Coleman saw time in 8 games at both offensive guard positions. He averaged about 6 pancake blocks a game He moved into the starting lineup in 2001, starting on the field for all 16 games and the Buccaneers' playoff game. Looking to improve further, Coleman started 15 of 16 regular season games in 2002 as well as all three playoff games, which included Super Bowl XXVII. In that game, the Buccaneers dominated the Oakland Raiders en route to a 48-21 victory and Super Bowl title. Coleman would start all 32 games over the 2003 and 2004 seasons and continued to cement his reputation as one of the league's best (and most underrated) offensive linemen. Following the 2004 season, Coleman moved on to the Cleveland Browns and was promptly inserted into the starting lineup for a young Browns team. Over his 6-year career, Coleman has played in 85 games and started 77 of them. Coleman announced his retirement from the league in 2007 after 7 years in the league due to bad knees which not would allow him pass a physical. He has since re enrolled at the University of Tennessee where he will major in legal studies.
