Antwaan Randle El facts for kids
Randle El with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005
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| Chicago Bears | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Assistant head coach/wide receivers coach | ||||||||||||||
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| Born: | August 17, 1979 Riverdale, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Thornton Township (Harvey, Illinois) |
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| College: | Indiana (1998–2001) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2002 / Round: 2 / Pick: 62 | ||||||||||||||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||||
Antwaan Randle El (born August 17, 1979) is an American football coach and former player. He currently works as the wide receivers coach and assistant head coach for the Chicago Bears in the National Football League (NFL).
Before becoming a coach, Antwaan was an amazing player. He played college football as a quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers. He was so good that he earned first-team All-American honors in 2001. He also played basketball and baseball for Indiana University.
The Pittsburgh Steelers picked him in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft. He played for the Steelers for four seasons as a wide receiver and return specialist. He played in every regular season game during that time. He was also famous for his "trick plays," like throwing a touchdown pass as a wide receiver in Super Bowl XL.
After the 2005 NFL season, Randle El joined the Washington Redskins. He scored ten touchdowns there, catching eight and throwing two. In 2007, he missed only one game due to a hamstring injury. This was the only game he missed in his entire NFL career!
The Redskins released him in 2010, and he soon rejoined the Steelers. USA Today even named him one of the top five kick returners of the decade. For a while, he also worked as a sideline reporter for the Big Ten Network.
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Antwaan Randle El's Early Life
Antwaan Randle El was born in Riverdale, Illinois. His dad, Curtis Sr., worked as a food distributor, and his mom, Jacqueline, ran a day-care. Antwaan grew up as a Christian.
He was a big fan of the Chicago Bears. He went to Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois. There, he played football, basketball, and baseball. He was teammates with other future NFL and NBA stars like Napoleon Harris and Melvin Ely.
After high school in 1997, the Chicago Cubs baseball team even drafted him. But Antwaan decided to go to Indiana University on a football scholarship instead. People told him he was too small for college football, but he proved them wrong!
College Football Star
Antwaan Randle El went to Indiana University Bloomington from 1997 to 2001. He mainly played college football as a quarterback. He had to sit out his first year because of his SAT score.
In his first college game in 1998, he was amazing! He threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 82 yards and three touchdowns. Indiana won the game 45–30. His 467 total yards broke the NCAA freshman record for total offense in a first game. He even won the Big Ten Player of the Week award.
Later that season, he led Indiana to a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes. He scored a rushing touchdown in the final seconds. This was a huge win because Indiana had lost to Iowa 62–0 the year before! He won the Big Ten Player of the Week award again. In December 1998, he was named the 1998 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. This award was later renamed in his honor.
During his freshman year, he ran for over 100 yards in four different games. He finished the season with 1,745 passing yards and six touchdowns. He also had 873 rushing yards, setting a new Indiana University record for a quarterback.
While at Indiana, Randle El became the first player in NCAA Division I history to pass for 40 touchdowns and score 40 rushing touchdowns in his career. In 2001, he won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award. This award goes to the Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference.
He finished his college career as one of the top players in NCAA history for total yards. He was the first college football player to get 2,500 total yards for four years in a row. He ended his college career with 7,469 passing yards, 3,895 rushing yards, and 92 touchdowns. He even finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting in his senior year.
In 2000, famous coach Joe Paterno said Randle El was "just the whole offense." He called him "an amazing athlete."
Besides football, Randle El also played varsity basketball for Indiana. He played under the famous coach Bob Knight. He also played varsity baseball for Indiana in 2000. In 2012, Antwaan Randle El was inducted into the Indiana Athletic Hall of Fame.
NFL Journey with the Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers picked Antwaan Randle El as a wide receiver in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft. He was the ninth wide receiver chosen that year.
As a rookie in 2002, he had 47 catches for 489 yards and two touchdowns. He was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. He also won the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award in Week 8 for his play against Baltimore.
In 2003, he won the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week again. This was for an 84-yard punt return touchdown against St. Louis. The Steelers made him their main kickoff and punt returner in 2004. In Week 15, he even threw his first professional touchdown pass!
Super Bowl XL Champion
In 2005, Randle El threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward against the Cleveland Browns. He had 35 catches for 558 yards and one touchdown that season.
He made history in Super Bowl XL. He threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward on a trick play. This play helped the Steelers win the championship! He was the first wide receiver in NFL history to throw a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl.
Time with the Washington Redskins
In March 2006, Randle El signed a big seven-year deal with the Washington Redskins. In Week 7, he returned an 87-yard punt for a touchdown. Later, in Week 17, he threw his first touchdown pass as a Redskin.
In the 2007 season, he had a career-high 162 receiving yards in the first game. He was also the Redskins' emergency quarterback. He missed only one game in December 2007 due to injury. This ended his streak of 91 straight games played.
In 2008, he had 53 catches for 593 yards and four touchdowns. In 2009, he caught 50 passes for 530 yards. In January 2010, he was named to the Pittsburgh Steelers All-Decade team as a punt returner. USA Today also ranked him fifth among all kick returners of the decade. The Redskins released him in March 2010.
Back with the Steelers and Retirement
On March 8, 2010, Randle El signed a three-year deal to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played in all sixteen regular season games. He even threw two more touchdown passes that season, one to Mike Wallace and another to Hines Ward. His career passer rating of 157.5 is one of the highest ever for a player with more than twenty completed passes.
In Super Bowl XLV, he scored a two-point conversion for the Steelers. He was released by the team in July 2011. After not playing in 2011, Antwaan Randle El announced his retirement from football on July 13, 2012. In 2013, he became the athletic director at Virginia Academy, a Christian high school he helped start.
Coaching Career
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
On January 16, 2019, Randle El joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching staff as an offensive assistant. He reunited with his former coach, Bruce Arians. He was part of the coaching staff when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV.
Detroit Lions
On February 9, 2021, Randle El was hired by the Detroit Lions as their new wide receivers coach. He worked under Head Coach Dan Campbell.
Personal Life
Antwaan Randle El has two brothers who also played college football. His younger brother, Marcus, played for the University of Wisconsin. His older brother, Curtis, played at Indiana University. Antwaan is married and has four children with his wife, and three children from previous relationships, making him a father of seven. He is a Christian.
Randle El also co-hosted a TV show called Redskins Gameday in 2007. He also worked as a reporter for NFL Network. He interviewed players like Brian Dawkins, Ben Roethlisberger, and Hines Ward. He also appeared in commercials for a car dealership.
Images for kids
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Randle El with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005
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Antwaan Randle El at Redskins 2008 Training Camp.
