Dexter McCluster

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Dexter McCluster

| image = Mccluster spring game (cropped).jpg

| caption = McCluster at the 2010 Ole Miss spring game

| alt =

| number = 22, 33

| position = Running back

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1988|8|25|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Largo, Florida, U.S.

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 8

| weight_lbs = 170

| high_school = Largo

| college = Ole Miss (2006–2009)

| draftyear = 2010

| draftround = 2

| draftpick = 36

| pastteams = * Kansas City Chiefs ({{NFL Year|2010}}–{{NFL Year|2013}})

Tennessee Titans ({{NFL Year|2014}}–{{NFL Year|2015}})
San Diego Chargers ({{NFL Year|2016}})
Toronto Argonauts ({{CFL Year|2018}})
Massachusetts Pirates (2019)

| highlights = * Second-team All-Pro (2013)

Pro Bowl (2013)
NFL punt return yards leader (2013)
Third-team All-American (2009)
First-team All-SEC (2009)
Second-team All-SEC (2008)

| statleague = NFL

| statweek =

| statseason =

| statlabel1 = Rushing attempts

| statvalue1 = 250

| statlabel2 = Rushing yards

| statvalue2 = 1,042

| statlabel3 = Receptions

| statvalue3 = 236

| statlabel4 = Receiving yards

| statvalue4 = 1,993

| statlabel5 = Return yards

| statvalue5 = 2,942

| statlabel6 = Total touchdowns

| statvalue6 = 12

| pfr = McClDe00

}}

Dexter Marquise McCluster (born August 25, 1988) is an American former professional football player who was a running back and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, and San Diego Chargers. He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels. McCluster was selected by the Chiefs in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft. He also played for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Massachusetts Pirates of the National Arena League (NAL).

Early life

McCluster attended Largo High School in Largo, Florida where he was an honor roll student and where he lettered in football, basketball and track. He was a state qualifier in the long jump and in the high jump. In football, his junior season, he rushed for 1,424 yards and 14 touchdowns. As a senior in leading the Largo Packers to the 2005 District Championship, he rushed for 2,490 yards and 39 touchdowns. Also as a senior, he was named to the First-team All-State 5A by the Florida Sports Writers Association and named All-Suncoast Player of the Year by the St. Petersburg Times Mr.2000. McCluster was selected Most Valuable Player in the Florida Athletic Coaches Association North-South Football All- Star Classic game.

In track & field, McCluster was a state qualifier in the jumping events. He got personal-best leaps of 6.94 meters in the long jump and 1.99 meters in the high jump. In the sprinting events, he recorded times of 11.53 seconds in the 100 meters and 22.67 seconds in the 200 meters.{{Cite web |url=https://www.trackingfootball.com/players/dexter-mccluster-5767/ |title=Dexter McCluster |access-date=October 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303211416/https://www.trackingfootball.com/players/dexter-mccluster-5767/ |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead }}

College career

As a true freshman at the University of Mississippi in 2006, McCluster started five of the first six games before suffering an injury. He finished the season with 15 receptions for 232 receiving yards, 68 rushing yards on eight attempts and two touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2007 he played in the final eight games of the year after missing the first four due to the injury. He finished with 326 yards on 27 receptions and 63 yards on 6 rushing attempts with two touchdowns. As a junior in 2008 he earned second-team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press after rushing for 655 yards on 109 attempts and 44 receptions for 625 yards with seven touchdowns.

McCluster's senior season was full of highlights as he set two school records against Tennessee for rushing yards in a game with 282 and all-purpose yards in a game with 324.[https://web.archive.org/web/20091116232520/http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293180145 McCluster sets two school records as Ole Miss runs over Tennessee] In his final game in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, he ran for 148 yards and threw the only collegiate touchdown pass of his career in the 25-23 win over then 9th-ranked LSU. He rushed for 1,169 yards on 181 attempts (a 6.4 yards per carry average), and made 44 receptions for 520 yards with 12 total touchdowns that made him the only player in SEC history to rush for over 1,000 yards and receive for 500 yards in a single season. He finished his college career at Ole Miss with 3,685 yards from scrimmage and 23 TD's.{{cite web|author=Dexter McCluster #22 RB |url=http://espn.go.com/ncf/player/stats?playerId=191216 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319115913/http://espn.go.com/ncf/player/stats?playerId=191216 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 19, 2009 |title=Dexter McCluster Stats, Splits, News, Photos - Mississippi Rebels - NCAA College Football - ESPN |publisher=Espn.go.com |date=August 25, 1988 |access-date=December 29, 2010}}

=College statistics=

rowspan="2"\| Season ! rowspan="2"\| Team ! rowspan="2"\| GP ! colspan="4"\| Rushing ! colspan="4"\| Receiving
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
2006	Ole Miss \| 6 \|\| 8 \|\| 68 \|\| 8.5 \|\| 1 \|\| 15 \|\| 232 \|\| 15.5 \|\| 1
2007	Ole Miss \| 8 \|\| 6 \|\| 63 \|\| 10.5 \|\| 0 \|\| 27 \|\| 326 \|\| 12.1 \|\| 2
2008	Ole Miss \| 13 \|\| 109 \|\| 655 \|\| 6.0 \|\| 6 \|\| 44 \|\| 625 \|\| 14.2 \|\| 1
2009	Ole Miss \| 13 \|\| 181 \|\| 1,169 \|\| 6.5 \|\| 8 \|\| 44 \|\| 520 \|\| 11.8 \|\| 3
colspan="2"\| Career	40	304	1,955	6.4	15	130	1,703	13.1	7

Professional career

=Pre-draft=

According to CBSSports.com,{{cite web|url=http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1137461 |title=Dexter McCluster, Mississippi, NFL Draft - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com |publisher=CBSSports.com |access-date=December 29, 2010}} McCluster was projected to be drafted in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft.

{{nfl predraft

| height ft = 5

| height in = 8 3/4

| weight = 172

| dash = 4.58

| ten split = 1.61

| twenty split = 2.75

| shuttle = 4.06

| cone drill = 6.73

| vertical = 37.5

| broad ft = 9

| broad in = 10

| bench = 20

| wonderlic = 18

| arm span = 29 1/4

| hand span = 8 3/8

| note = All values from NFL Combine/3-cone from Pro Day.{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/dexter-mccluster?id=497190 |title=Dexter McCluster |website=NFL}}

}}

File:Paul Posluszny, Dexter McCluster, Robert Quinn 2014 Pro Bowl.jpg]]

=Kansas City Chiefs=

On April 23, McCluster was selected 36th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.{{Cite web |title=2010 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2010/draft.htm |access-date=May 13, 2023 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} He signed a $5.15 million, 4-year contract with the Chiefs on July 28, 2010.{{cite news |title = Chiefs announce McCluster, Arenas deals |publisher = National Football Post |date = July 28, 2010 |url = http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Chiefs-announce-McCluster-Arenas-deals.html |access-date = August 3, 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100801130832/http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Chiefs-announce-McCluster-Arenas-deals.html |archive-date = August 1, 2010 }} McCluster scored his first NFL touchdown in his professional debut (the first game of the 2010 Chiefs season) on a 94-yard punt return on September 13, 2010, against the San Diego Chargers. With this score, McCluster became the youngest Chiefs player to score a touchdown in franchise history (21 years and 19 days old), a record that still stands as of the end of the 2023 season.{{Cite web |title=Stathead "Touchdown Finder": Every touchdown in Kansas City Chiefs history, sorted by ascending scorer age |url=https://stathead.com/tiny/uQPZr |access-date=March 21, 2024 |website=Stathead}} The record was previously held by Tamarick Vanover, who scored a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown in week 1 of the 1995 season vs. the Seattle Seahawks. Vanover was 21 years and 190 days old on the day of his first career touchdown, 171 days older than McCluster was when Vanover's record was broken. The 94-yard score was also the longest punt return touchdown in Chiefs history until January 1, 2017, when Tyreek Hill returned a punt for 95 yards against the San Diego Chargers.{{Cite web |title=Stathead "Touchdown Finder": All punt return touchdowns in Kansas City Chiefs history, sorted by descending distance |url=https://stathead.com/tiny/ErnTF |access-date=March 21, 2024 |website=Stathead}}

On September 26, 2010, 13 days after his debut, McCluster caught a 31-yard pass from Matt Cassel, giving the rookie running back his first career offensive touchdown. As a result, McCluster is both the youngest and second-youngest Chiefs player to score a touchdown.

On January 1, 2012, in the Chiefs' season finale against the Denver Broncos, McCluster scored his first NFL rushing touchdown on a 21-yard run in the first quarter. This proved to be the only touchdown of the day for either team, as the game ended in a 7-3 Chiefs victory.{{Cite web |title=Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos - January 1st, 2012 |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201201010den.htm |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}

=Tennessee Titans=

On March 11, 2014, McCluster signed a three-year, $12 million contract to join the Tennessee Titans.{{cite web | last=Alper | first=Josh | title=Dexter McCluster lands three-year deal in Tennessee | website=NBC Sports | date=2014-03-11 | url=https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/dexter-mccluster-lands-three-year-deal-in-tennessee | access-date=2024-07-26}} The Titans waived McCluster on September 2, 2016.{{cite web|work=ESPN.com|url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17449512/tennessee-titans-release-justin-hunter-bishop-sankey|title=Titans release Justin Hunter, Bishop Sankey, Dexter McCluster|first=Paul|last=Kuharsky|date=September 2, 2016|access-date=September 2, 2016}}

=San Diego Chargers=

McCluster was signed to the San Diego Chargers on September 20, 2016.{{cite web|title=Chargers Sign Versatile RB Dexter McCluster|url=http://www.chargers.com/news/2016/09/20/chargers-sign-versatile-rb-dexter-mccluster|website=Chargers.com|access-date=September 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922125101/http://www.chargers.com/news/2016/09/20/chargers-sign-versatile-rb-dexter-mccluster|archive-date=September 22, 2016|url-status=dead}} He was placed on the Reserve/Non Football Injury list with a fractured forearm.{{cite web|title=Chargers Make Four Roster Moves; Place Dexter McCluster on NFL-I List|url=https://www.chargers.com/news/chargers-make-four-roster-moves-place-dexter-mccluster-on-nfl-i-list-141361|author=Henne, Ricky|website=Chargers.com|date=November 5, 2016}}

=Toronto Argonauts=

On July 16, 2018, McCluster signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He made his debut on September 28, 2018, and recorded 4 rushes for 27 yards, 6 catches for 46 yards, and handled return duties on special teams. McCluster played in four games for the Argos during the 2018 season, and produced 117 yards on 22 carries, 111 yards on 12 catches, one punt return for six yards, and two kickoffs for 40 yards. He was released by the Argos on May 6, 2019.{{cite web | last=Dunk | first=Justin | title=Argos release former NFLer Dexter McCluster | website=3DownNation | date=2019-05-06 | url=https://3downnation.com/2019/05/06/argos-release-former-nfler-dexter-mccluster/ | access-date=2024-07-26}}

=Massachusetts Pirates=

File:DexterMcClusterPirates2019.jpg

On May 15, 2019, McCluster signed with the Massachusetts Pirates of the National Arena League.{{Cite web |url=https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/05/17/dexter-mccluster-signs-on-with-arena-football-team/ |title=Dexter McCluster signs on with arena football team |last=Smith |first=Michael David |date=May 18, 2019 |website=ProFootballTalk |language=en |access-date=May 19, 2019}} McCluster appeared in 6 games while recording 19 receptions for 159 yards and 2 receiving touchdowns.

References

External links

[http://www.dextermccluster.com/ Official website]
[http://www.titansonline.com/team/roster/Dexter-McCluster/799f6275-c194-4bb6-bf6f-ee44e334cba8 Tennessee Titans bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314194547/http://www.titansonline.com/team/roster/Dexter-McCluster/799f6275-c194-4bb6-bf6f-ee44e334cba8 |date=March 14, 2014 }}

Category:1988 births

Category:Living people

Category:American football return specialists

Category:American football running backs

Category:American football wide receivers

Category:Kansas City Chiefs players

Category:Los Angeles Chargers players

Category:Ole Miss Rebels football players

Category:Sportspeople from Largo, Florida

Category:Players of American football from Pinellas County, Florida

Category:San Diego Chargers players

Category:Tennessee Titans players