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Julius Peppers

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Julius Peppers
Carolina Panthers
Career information
College:North Carolina
NFL draft:2002 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 10, 2008
Tackles:317
Sacks:65.0
Interceptions:4
Player stats at PFR

Julius Frazier Peppers (born January 18, 1980 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a professional American football player. He currently plays defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. He and Donovan McNabb are the only people to ever play in both the NCAA men's basketball Final Four and the NFL's Super Bowl [1]. He is named after legendary NBA players Julius Erving and Walt Frazier. Following Mike Minter's retirement, Peppers was named as the Panthers defensive captain.

Early years

The youngest of three children, Peppers was born in Wilson, North Carolina, and raised in nearby Bailey. By the time he was a freshman at Southern Nash Senior High School, Peppers had grown to 6' 5", 225 lbs. Basketball was his first love, and the sport became his number one passion. However, Ray Davis, the football coach at Southern Nash, felt that the hulking teenager would be an asset on the gridiron for the Firebirds, despite the fact that Peppers had never played football before. Davis' gamble would pay off: during his high school career, Peppers played running back and defensive lineman, and finished his career with 3501 rushing yards, and 46 touchdowns, and was one of the most dangerous defensive linemen in the state. He also lettered in basketball and was voted All-Conference, as a power forward, for four consecutive years. In 1998 Southern Nash won the state championship in track for the first time in the school's history. Peppers contributed, as a sprinter winning the state championship in the 4x200 meter team relay and as a triple jumper. His senior year (1997-98), he was named to the PARADE All-America team in football as an all-purpose talent, and was also named Male Athlete of the Year by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. In 2005, Peppers was named by the Rocky Mount Telegram newspaper as one of the 50 Greatest Athletes from the Nash/Edgecombe (Twin County) area [2].

College career

Football

Peppers played defensive end at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he won the Chuck Bednarik Award for the nation's top defensive player and the Lombardi Award as the best collegiate lineman in 2001. Peppers redshirted his freshmen season. In the three following seasons at North Carolina, Peppers started 33 of the 34 games he played in. He is currently ranked second all-time in UNC history with 30.5 sacks. He accumulated 53 stops behind the line of scrimmage, 167 tackles, five interceptions, two fumble recoveries, five forced fumbles, 13 passes defensed and 42 quarterback pressures (hurries) and returned two interceptions and one fumble recovery for touchdowns.

Awards and honors

  • Sporting News Freshman All-American (1999)
  • First-team All-ACC (2000)
  • Second-team AP All-American (2000)
  • Second-team Football News All-American (2000)
  • Consensus First-team All-ACC (2001)
  • Consensus First-team All-American (2001)
  • Bronko Nagurski Trophy finalist (2001)

Basketball

While at the University of North Carolina, Peppers was also a member of the Men's Basketball Team. He was a key reserve on the 1999-2000 Tarheels team that made it to the Final Four. Peppers was also a key reserve on the 2000-2001 Men's Basketball Team. In the NCAA Tournament, Peppers would score 18 points and grab 10 rebounds in a loss to Penn State in the second round. After the season, Peppers decided to focus solely on football and academics and did not play basketball in his final season at the University of North Carolina.

Professional career

In the 2002 NFL Draft, Peppers was selected by the Carolina Panthers as the second overall pick behind first overall pick, quarterback David Carr. Peppers ran a 4.68 40 yard dash at 290 pounds and completed 22 bench press reps at his pro day. Peppers made an immediate impact and was named The NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. During his rookie season, Peppers tallied 36 tackles, 12 sacks, 1 interception, and 5 forced fumbles. On October 13, 2002, Peppers became only the third player in NFL history to amass three sacks and an interception in the same game. With four games remaining in the season, Peppers was suspended for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy for taking a banned dietary supplement.

In 2003, during the Panthers' Super Bowl run, he had 46 tackles, 7 sacks, and 3 forced fumbles. The next year, Peppers was selected to his first ever Pro Bowl with 65 tackles, 11 sacks, 2 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles, and two touchdowns. On October 15, 2006, Peppers became the Panthers' all-time sacks leader. [3]

Julius Peppers is known as one of the most athletic and versatile players in the NFL. He has blocked at least one kick in 5 consecutive seasons. Peppers has had double-digit sacks in all but 2 seasons.

Career stats

Regular season

  Regular Season   Defensive   Interceptions   Fumbles
Season Team Games Tackles Solo Assists Sacks Pass Def Int Yds Avg Td Lg Forced Rec Yds Td
2002 Carolina 12 36 29 7 12.0 4 1 21 21.0 0 0 5 0 0 0
2003 Carolina 16 46 39 7 7.0 3 1 0 0.0 0 0 3 0 0 0
2004 Carolina 16 65 53 12 11.0 7 2 143 71.5 1 99 4 1 60 1
2005 Carolina 16 50 38 12 10.5 6 0 0 0.0 0 0 2 1 10 0
2006 Carolina 16 58 49 9 13 6 0 0 0.0 0 0 3 2 0 0
2007 Carolina 14 38 30 8 2.5 5 1 0 0.0 0 0 3 2 0 0
Total 6 seasons 90 293 238 55 56.0 31 5 164 57.4 1 99 20 6 70 1

Playoffs

  Playoffs   Defensive   Interceptions   Fumbles
Season Team Games Tackles Solo Assists Sacks Pass Def Int Yds Avg Td Lg Forced Rec Yds Td
2003 Carolina 4 9 9 0 1.0 3 1 34 34.0 0 34 0 0 0 0
2005 Carolina 3 11 10 1 1.0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 2 seasons 7 20 19 1 2.0 4 1 34 34.0 0 34 0 0 0 0

NFL awards and honors

  • NFL Rookies of the Month (10/02)
  • 2002 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
  • Pro Football Weekly All-Rookie Team (2002)
  • 2004, 2005, 2006 NFC Pro Bowl
  • 2004, 2006 All-Pro Team
  • NFC Defensive Player of the Month (11/04, 11/08)

Template:2006 All-Pro Team Template:2007 Pro Bowl NFC starters

Preceded by Defensive Rookie of the Year
2002 		Succeeded by
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