No. 28 Buffalo Bills | |
Running Back | |
Personal information | |
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Date of birth: August 5, 1987 | |
Place of birth: Lake Butler, Florida | |
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | Weight: 197 lb (89 kg) |
Career information | |
College: Clemson | |
NFL Draft: 2010 / Round: 1 / Pick: 9 | |
Debuted in 2010 for the Buffalo Bills | |
Career history | |
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Roster status: Active | |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Career NFL statistics as of Week 16, 2011 | |
Rushing yards | 784 |
Average | 4.7 |
Rushing TDs | 4 |
Kick Return Yards | 1,157 |
Kick Return TDs | 1 |
Stats at NFL.com |
Clifford "C.J." Spiller Jr. (born August 5, 1987 in Lake Butler, Florida) is an American Football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was an All-American at Clemson University and was drafted 9th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. On October 16, 2010 his number 28 jersey was retired at Clemson University.
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Spiller attended Union County High School in Lake Butler, where he excelled at track, as well as football, posting the fourth fastest time in the nation over 100 meters in his senior year with a time of 10.42.[1] At Union County High School, Spiller played along fellow Clemson teammate, Kevin Alexander.[2] During his senior year at Union County, he rushed for 1,840 yards on 176 carries for 30 touchdowns. He also had fifteen receptions for 249 yards.
In his entire high school career, Spiller rushed for 5,511 yards on 541 carries.
As a true freshman, Spiller immediately made himself known to the Clemson fans. In the season, he rushed for 938 yards and ten touchdowns on 129 rushes,[7] despite being the second-team running back behind James Davis. He scored his first collegiate touchdown in a 34–33 overtime loss to Boston College on an 82–yard touchdown reception from quarterback Will Proctor.[8] After struggling versus Florida State the following week, Spiller turned it around against North Carolina by rushing for fifty-eight yards and two touchdowns in a 52–7 rout of the Tarheels.[9] In the following weeks, Spiller had two triple-digit rushing games as the Tigers defeated Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest. Against Louisiana Tech, he rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns on eleven attempts, in a 51–0 rout of the Bulldogs, in which the entire Clemson team rushed for 393 yards.[10] Clemson finished the season with a 8–5 overall record, losing four of their final five games, including a 31-28 loss to archrival South Carolina, and ended the season in a 28–20 Music City Bowl loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. Spiller rushed for only twenty-four yards on five attempts in the loss.[11]
In his second season for the Tigers, Spiller had a less productive rushing season with only 768 yards and three touchdowns. He did, however, gain more receiving yards, with 271 yards and two additional touchdowns.[7] In the opening three games of the season, Spiller rushed for only eighty-five yards, including a career-worst –1 yards in a 38–10 victory over Furman.[12] In a 13–3 loss, he was again stopped by the Georgia Tech defense, rushing for only two yards.[13] His best statistical game came against rivals South Carolina, which Clemson won 23–21. Spiller ran for a team-high 122 yards on twenty-three attempts in the victory.[14] In the team's bowl game, he rushed for 112 yards on eight attempts, including one touchdown, in a 23–20 loss to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.[15]
With Spiller and fellow running back James Davis, the Clemson Tigers were favored to win the opening game of their 2008 season against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff. However, a stingy Alabama defense held Spiller to just seven yards on two attempts.[16] He did score though, on a kickoff return for a touchdown. In his second game, however, he rushed for seventy-five yards on six carries, which included three touchdowns in a 45–17 victory over The Citadel.[17] On January 15, 2009, he announced he would remain for his senior year at Clemson instead of entering the 2009 NFL Draft.
In the Tiger's 40-24 victory over the Florida State Seminoles on November 7, 2009, Spiller and Jacoby Ford became the leading all-purpose duo in NCAA history (a record previously held by Marshall Faulk and Darnay Scott of San Diego State).
On November 28, 2009. C.J. set the FBS record for kickoff return touchdowns with seven during his career. He also earned his spot in the record books in another way on that kickoff return, by being only one of five players to ever gain 7000 all-purpose yards.On November 23, 2009, Spiller was named as one of the three finalists for the 2009 Doak Walker Award. Spiller, along with Mark Ingram of Alabama and Toby Gerhart of Stanford, was selected by a vote of the 130-member Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee.
On December 2, 2009, Spiller was voted the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. The all-purpose threat was named as the league's top player following a vote of 40 members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Spiller received 29 votes to outdistance Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who had eight. Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams, the league's rookie of the year, had two votes and Yellow Jackets defensive end Derrick Morgan had one. Spiller was the nation's only player this season to account for touchdowns five different ways—rushing, passing, receiving, and on kick and punt returns—and had passing, rushing and receiving TDs in one game, a victory against North Carolina State. He returned four kickoffs and a punt for scores this year and has eight total returns for TDs during his career. He scored at least once in every game this season while leading Clemson to the Atlantic Division title and a spot in the league title game against Georgia Tech. Spiller led the ACC with an average of nearly 184 all-purpose yards and was the league's fourth-leading rusher, averaging 76 yards. Spiller is the seventh Tiger to be named player of the year and the first since Michael Dean Perry in 1987. But, he got less than 20 rushing yards in the 2009 34-17 South Carolina loss, after returning the opening kickoff for an NCAA record-setting 7th career kickoff return for touchdown.[18]
Even though Spiller had a stellar career in the ACC and at Clemson, he was not invited to the 2009 Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York City. He ended up placing 6th in the voting behind Tim Tebow.
Spiller graduated from Clemson in December 2009, becoming the first person in his family to receive a four-year college degree.[19] Also his #28 is now retired as of December 27, 2009 on his game versus Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.
Spiller was the only player in the FBS to score a touchdown in every game in the 2009 season.
Season | Rushing | Receiving | Special Teams | ||||||||||||
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Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | PR | KR | TD | |||
2006 | 129 | 938 | 7.3 | 80 | 10 | 19 | 210 | 11.1 | 82 | 2 | 11–33 | 13–324 | 0 | ||
2007 | 145 | 768 | 5.3 | 83 | 3 | 34 | 271 | 8.0 | 68 | 2 | 16–137 | 19–547 | 2 | ||
2008 | 116 | 629 | 5.4 | 57 | 7 | 34 | 436 | 12.8 | 83 | 3 | 18–189 | 19–516 | 1 | ||
2009 | 201 | 1212 | 5.6 | 66 | 12 | 36 | 503 | 14.0 | 63 | 4 | 8–210 | 21–708 | 5 | ||
Total | 591 | 3,480 | 5.9 | 83 | 32 | 120 | 1,362 | 11.4 | 83 | 11 | 53–569 | 72–2005 | 8 | ||
Reference:[22] |
Despite being projected as a first-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, Spiller decided to return for his senior season in January 2009.[19] He was projected as a first-round draft choice in the 2010 NFL Draft and was listed as the No. 1 running back of the 2010 class by ESPN. Spiller was selected 9th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. He was the highest drafted Clemson player since Banks McFadden 1940 NFL Draft and Gaines Adams 2007 NFL Draft both went fourth overall.
On September 8, Spiller was given the nod for the starting running back position on the Bills roster, over veterans Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson for the 2010 season. On August 6, 2010 Spiller signed a five year $25 million deal ($20.8M guaranteed).
On August 19, 2010 Spiller ran 31 yards for his first NFL touchdown in week two of the preseason at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada against the Indianapolis Colts.
Spiller finished the 2010 preseason with 26 carries for 122 yards (4.69 average per carry) and three touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 35 yards. Spiller was named the #1 running back on Buffalo's final depth chart, ahead of the recently-injured Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson.
Spiller has been named Special Teams player of the week for September 26, 2010 for a 95 yard touchdown return against the New England Patriots. Spiller also had a touchdown off a pass by Ryan Fitzpatrick. However, his rookie season was marked with disappointment as he accumulated fewer yards than running backs taken after him in the draft including Ryan Mathews, Jahvid Best, and Toby Gerhart.
In 2011 it was announced that Spiller would trade numbers with Leodis McKelvin receiving the number 28, in exchange for the number 21. The number 28 was also the number Spiller wore at Clemson. Heading into Week 12, Spiller hadn't gotten as much action as the Bills were planning on because of the Pro Bowl caliber season that Fred Jackson was having, but Jackson was then placed on injured reserve, meaning Spiller would finally get his opportunity and become the Bills' starting running back for the rest of the season at least. In a Week 16 home game against the Denver Broncos on December 24th, 2011, Spiller had the first 100-yard rushing game of his NFL career, rushing 16 times for 111 yards and a touchdown in a 40-14 win for the Bills.
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s]][[Category:U.S. Army All-American football player