Damarius Bilbo
Encyclopedia
Damarius Bilbo is an American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player. He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Georgia Tech as a quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 and wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...

.

High school

Bilbo attended Moss Point High School and was a three year letterman and All-American in American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

. In football, he was named the Dick Butkus
Dick Butkus
Richard Marvin "Dick" Butkus is a former American football player for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted in 1965 and he is also widely regarded as one of the best and most durable linebackers of all time. Butkus starred as a football player for the University of Illinois and the Chicago Bears. He...

 Football Network National High School Player of the Year (after beating out Cedric Benson
Cedric Benson
Cedric Myron Benson is an American football running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears fourth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft...

 now of the Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

), Mississippi Player of the Year by USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

 and Gatorade
Gatorade
Gatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, built around its signature product: a line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo, distributed in over 80 countries...

. Seen by most sports writers as the best "true quarterback" in the state of Mississippi since Steve McNair
Steve McNair
Stephen LaTreal McNair was an American football quarterback who spent the majority of his NFL career with the Tennessee Titans....

 and Brett Favre
Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre is a former American football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League . He was a 20-year veteran of the NFL, having played quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons , Green Bay Packers , New York Jets and Minnesota...

. In baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, he garnered ALL-American honors and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

 in the 2001 Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 drafted as a pitcher and center field after being clocked with a 96 mph fastball.

College Football

He had a medical redshirt in 2001 (broken thumb) after what looked to be a promising freshman year, and played backup quarterback in 2002. Bilbo did see extensive playing time in the second half of the Silicon Valley Football Classic
Silicon Valley Football Classic
The Silicon Valley Football Classic , sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley Bowl or Silicon Valley Classic, was an NCAA-certified Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that was played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California,...

 (bowl) in relief of starter A.J. Suggs. He contended for the starting job during fall camp in 2003 was moved from the position by Coach Chan Gailey after what gailey called "a great spring." Eventually 4yr starter Reggie Ball
Reggie Ball
Reginald Lewis Ball is an American football Quarterback who currently plays for the Bricktown Brawlers of the Indoor Football League He was originally signed by the Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2007...

 moved into the position. Bilbo was later relegated to wide receiver, leaving school that same summer to play baseball, but later returned and found success at that position, starting all 12 games his senior season opposite Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson (American football)
Calvin Johnson, Jr. is an American football wide receiver for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia Tech....

 making them one of the top receiving duos in college football. He was invited to the Hula Bowl
Hula Bowl
The Hula Bowl was an independently administered post-season invitational college football game held each year in Hawaii from 1947 to 2008. The game was last played at Aloha Stadium in the Hālawa district of Honolulu, Hawaii. At one point the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, it had been...

 all-star game in Hawaii. Bilbo graduated in 2005 with a degree in management
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

 and industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...

.

Professional career

Bilbo was undrafted in the 2006 NFL Draft
2006 NFL Draft
The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offered by ESPNU and, for the first time, by...

, but was signed as a free-agent by the Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

. He was released by the Cardinals in preseason, but immediately signed by the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

. He was cut from the active roster but signed to the practice squad. He helped the Cowboys prepare for their week 4 meeting with the Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...

 by simulating Vince Young
Vince Young
Vincent Paul Young, Jr. , nicknamed "VY", is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League . He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Tennessee Titans. Young was the third overall draft pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college...

 in practice and also Michael Vick
Michael Vick
Michael Dwayne Vick is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League...

 and Donovan McNabb
Donovan McNabb
Donovan Jamal McNabb is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He was the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback from 1999 to 2009 and spent the 2010 season with the Washington Redskins and a portion of the 2011 season with the Minnesota Vikings. In college, McNabb played...

 respectively. He was cut from the squad in mid-October in favor of ex-Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...

 Jerheme Urban
Jerheme Urban
Jerheme Wayne Urban is an American football wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent from Trinity University by the Seattle Seahawks and served as a reserve wide receiver during his years there...

 after injuring the finger on his throwing hand. He was re-signed to the Cowboys in November and coach Parcells
Bill Parcells
Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells is a former American football head coach, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006...

 called him "a very promising player" and has planned of moving him to safety because of his athletic ability and smarts.

External links

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