Zachary Paul Piller (born May 2, 1976) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the late 1990s and 2000s. Piller played college football for the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team in 1996. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Tennessee Titans of the NFL.
| No. 76, 69 | |||||||
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| Position: | Guard | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born: | May 2, 1976 St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 315 lb (143 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school: | Lincoln (Tallahassee, Florida) | ||||||
| College: | Florida | ||||||
| NFL draft: | 1999 / round: 3 / pick: 81 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Early life
editPiller was born in St. Petersburg, Florida.[1] but primarily grew up in Tallahassee, Florida and attended Lincoln High School[2] where he was a starting offensive lineman for the Lincoln Trojans high school football team.
College career
editPiller initially accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, where he played for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team. After his freshman year ended, he transferred to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1996 to 1998.[3] Piller was a sophomore letterman on the 1996 Gators squad that defeated the in-state rival Florida State Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl to win the national championship. As a senior team captain in 1998, he was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection.[3]
Piller graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science in 2006.
Professional career
editThe Tennessee Titans selected Piller in the third round (eighty-first overall pick) in the 1999 NFL draft.[4] He played for the Titans from 1999 to 2006.[5] After playing eighty-seven games for the Titans (and starting in fifty-eight of them),[1] Piller was released by the team on February 20, 2007.
Piller was signed by the Detroit Lions on March 23, 2007; he was released on May 3. Piller signed with the New York Giants on June 7, 2007, only to be released again on September 2. After spending two seasons out of football, Piller was selected by the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL) in the UFL Premiere Season Draft in 2009. He signed with the team on August 17,[6] but was released before the season began.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Zach Piller. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ databaseFootball.com, Players, Zach Piller Archived June 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ a b 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 97, 103, 125, 185 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
- ^ "1999 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
- ^ National Football League, Historical Players, Zach Piller. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ "United Football League Signs 21 Players to Florida Tuskers' Roster". PR Newswire. August 17, 2009. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
Bibliography
edit- Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
- Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
- Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
- McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
- Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.