Book An Athlete

Will Allen

While football was a focal point for Will Allen at Ohio State, it was during his college days that he first realized that there was more to his role in life than just being a football player.

The Buckeyes won the 2002 national championship – rolling to a perfect 14-0 record in the process – with Allen sealing two of the wins (including the rivalry spat with Michigan) with game ending interceptions. It was the interception of Wolverines quarterback John Navarre to preserve the Buckeyes win that Allen is best remembered for in Columbus.
Allen went on to have a 12-year career in the NFL, where he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dallas Cowboys, racking up 409 tackles and seven interceptions from his safety spot.

Tyrone Williams

If you want the picture perfect, All-American American, NFL story, then Tyrone Williams’ story is not the one for you. If, however, you want a real athlete who has seen the highs, and the lows, of fame and fortune afforded to a man by his athletic talent, then Williams’ trials and tribulations are both a cautionary tale and a redemption story.

Williams was a big part of the Nebraska dynasty of the mid-to-late 1990s. He won a pair of National Championship Titles with the Cornhuskers in 1994 and 1995, before being drafted in the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers, led by the arm of Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, were one of the dream franchises to be drafted by at this time, with Williams going on to win the Super Bowl as a rookie in 1996 and starting another in 1997. For his career, Williams had 19 interceptions for 274 return yards with two return touchdowns.

Santia Deck

There is a reason why Santia Deck is known as the Queen of Abs. All you need to do is look at the fitness model’s sculpted torso to understand why the name is so fitting.

Deck, though, is much more than just a fitness model. She has dedicated her life to her passions, creating a resume unlike any other you will see and rocking a story loaded with successes which prove that to her failure has never been an answer.

The certified personal trainer was born in Greenville, South Carolina and raised in Houston, Texas. Understanding that the world was changing around her and that the growing reach of social media was ever increasing, Deck was quick to turn to the socials as a way to promote herself and her career. Deck has amassed over 250,000 followers on Instagram, using her sense of business and a keen eye for creating content that people want to see to push her brand forward.

Tommy Barnhardt

Punters and kickers seem to be the most transient players in the NFL, with their careers and ability to stick in the league relying as much on their resolve and ability to impress in tryouts as their actual production on the field.  That is why Tommy Barnhardt has so many stories and so much life experience when it comes to moving from city to city for work.

Barnhardt stayed in-state for his college days, with the China Grove, North Carolina, product choosing to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. A surprising athlete for a punter, the 6-foot-2, 228-pounder, was successful enough in college to be drafted with the 223rd pick of the 1986 NFL Draft. While that might not sound all that impressive, it is worth noting that when Barnhardt was taken in the ninth round, there had only been two other punters taken before him.

Kenny Kelly

Kenny Kelly was one of those high school athletes that was seemingly good at everything he put his mind and talents towards.

The Plant City, Florida, native attended and starred at Tampa Catholic High School, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, baseball, and track. It was on the gridiron where Kelly seemed to excel most during his prep years, finishing his high school career with a stunning 7,486 yards passing and 77 passing touchdowns.

The PARADE All-American took a scholarship at the University of Miami where he continued his progression in both sports. He would play the fall of every year with the Hurricanes football team, before playing in the spring with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (at the time) in their farm system. Kelly had been a second round pick for the Rays directly out of high school.

Errict Rhett

It is not hyperbole to say that Errict Rhett is one of the best players in the history to wear the orange and blue of the Florida Gators.

Rhett remains the only player in school history to lead the team in all-purpose and rushing yards for four-straight seasons, a record that is going to be difficult to break given how hard it is to find the field as a freshman and then stay for all four years of a college career.

Rhett was the key weapon for Florida as the Gators won SEC Championships in 1991 and 1993, being named an All-SEC player in both of those seasons and a First-Team All-American in 1993. Rhett also holds the distinction of being the player to break Emmitt Smith’s rushing record at Florida, finishing his career with 4,163 yards and 34 touchdowns on the ground while adding another 1,230 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Eric Vance

Eric Vance is a player who had to scrap and work to make his NFL dreams come true.

The Tampa native played his college football in Tennessee for Vanderbilt, a school that is not exactly known for churning out high end NFL products compared to the rest of the colleges in the SEC. Vance played for three years with the Commodores, with his best season coming in 1994 as a sophomore when he grabbed a pair of interceptions from his position in the secondary.

Vance was not selected in the 1997 NFL Draft, with his college production not being quite at the level which general managers were looking for when adding to their roster. Vance, though, was determined not to give up and accepted an invite to rookie minicamp with the Carolina Panthers as a priority undrafted free agent.

Shaun King

King is a man with deep ties to Florida.

A graduate of Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, King stepped out of state to play football at Tulane in Louisiana. He starred with the Green Wave from 1995 to 1998, leading Tulane to an undefeated season in 1998, going 12-0 with a win over BYU in the Liberty Bowl to cap off the only zero loss season in school history.

That year, King set an FBS record for passing efficiency with a 183.3 rating. He also became the first player in the history of college football to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in the same game. King finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1998, throwing for 3,495 yards, 38 touchdowns, and six interceptions, while adding 633 yards and 11 scores on the ground. This was yet another year when a player from a traditionally smaller school made a mockery of the Heisman by falling so low in the voting.

Jerry Wunsch

Jerry Wunsch is a Wisconsin transplant who found a home in Tampa in a community that he loves to give back to.  Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Wunsch remained in his home state to play college ball in Madison with the Wisconsin Badgers. The offensive tackle excelled in the Big Ten using his 6-foot-6, 339 pound frame to protect his quarterback and provide a massive presence in the running game. Wisconsin is a school known for offensive line play and Wunsch is one of the best to ever pull on a Badgers jersey.

That high level of play in college saw Wunsch selected in the 1997 NFL Draft. The Buccaneers used a high-second round pick (No. 37 overall) for the rights to a player that they thought could lockdown that side of the offensive line for the next half of a decade. Wunsch had a steady, if not completely spectacular (he was an offensive lineman after all), career in the NFL playing five years with the Bucs and then a another four years with the Seahawks before retiring in 2005. He played in 113 games, making 51 starts, and picking up a pair of fumble recoveries along the way.