Spencer Larsen (born March 4, 1984) is a former American football fullback. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.[1] He played college football at Arizona, primarily as a linebacker.[2]
 At a game in Denver in September, 2010. | |||||||||||||||
| No. 46 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Fullback Linebacker | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | March 4, 1984 Mesa, Arizona, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 235 lb (107 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Highland (Gilbert, Arizona) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Arizona | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2008 / round: 6 / pick: 183 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Early years
Larsen earned SuperPrep All-Farwest honors and was named First-team All-State by The Arizona Republic as a senior at Highland High School in Gilbert, Arizona after recorded 124 tackles as a senior. He was also the All-Region co-Defensive Most Valuable Player.
College career
In 2007 Larsen was a First-team All-Pacific-10 Conference as a senior at Arizona after leading the conference with 131 tackles (87 solo) in 12 games (12 starts). He added four sacks, one interception, five pass breakups, four fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. The year before, 2006, Larsen received Second-team All-Pacific-10 Conference honors as a junior after making 89 tackles (63 solo), two sacks (11 yds.) and one interception in 12 games (12 starts). He also had three pass breakups, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles. He was also First-team Academic All-Conference. In 2005, he saw action in eight games (6 starts) as a sophomore and totaled 51 tackles (29 solo), one sack, one pass breakup and one fumble recovery. He also received Second-team academic All-Conference recognition. Larsen did not play football from 2003–04 because he was on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile. In 2002 Larsen played all 12 games (7 starts) as a true freshman for Arizona and recorded 41 tackles (30 solo), two sacks and three pass breakups and was named Third-team freshman All-America and First-team freshman All-Pacific-10 Conference by The Gridiron Report. He was the defensive MVP of the 2008 East–West Shrine Game.[3]
Professional career
Pre-draft
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 13⁄4 | 238 lb (108 kg) |
4.94 s | 1.69 s | 2.87 s | 4.55 s | 7.68 s | 281⁄2 | 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) |
27 reps | |||
| All values from NFL Combine.[4] | ||||||||||||
Denver Broncos
On November 16, 2008, in a Broncos 24–20 road win over the Atlanta Falcons, Larsen became the first NFL player since 2003 (and only the fourth since 1990)[5] to start a game on both offense (fullback) and defense (linebacker).[6] The positions fullback and linebacker both involve considerably more contact than the wide receiver / cornerback positions played by other modern two-way players such as Troy Brown, Deion Sanders, Julian Edelman, and Champ Bailey. He also played on special teams during the game, including the opening kickoff. Larsen earned Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors for the first time in his career for his performance against the Falcons.[7]
New England Patriots
Larsen signed with the New England Patriots on March 22, 2012.[8] He was placed on season-ending injured reserve on August 27, 2012 and released from the team on March 4, 2013.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
On July 27, 2013, Larsen signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[9] On August 26, 2013, he was released by the Buccaneers.[10] Larsen re-signed with the team on September 10, 2013. He was released again on September 14, 2013. He was re-signed on September 25, 2013.
References
- ^ "2008 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ "Spencer Larsen". arizonawildcats.com. 2007. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
- ^ "MVP Award Recipients". shrinegame.com. 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
- ^ "Spencer Larsen, DS #11 ILB, Arizona". DraftScout.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ^ "Sporting News Today". November 17, 2008.
- ^ "Broncos rookie starts at FB, LB, on special teams". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 2008-11-16. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ Larsen voted Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week Archived 2008-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Report: Patriots agree with FB Larsen
- ^ "FB Larsen Signed, S Saenz Waived Among Saturday Roster Moves". Buccaneers.com. July 27, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
- ^ "Bucs Add TE Shanahan, Begin Roster Reduction". Buccaneers.com. August 26, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-08-29. Retrieved September 1, 2013.