Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Meet Vikings Corner Back # 23 Cedric Griffin

Cedric Griffin was born in Natchez, Mississippi, on November 11, 1982. He played football, and graduated from Holmes High School, in San Antonia, Texas. During his high school years, Cedric played for Head Coach David Sanchez. In Griffin's senior season at Holmes, he played defensive back, where he earned All-Class 5A honors in 2000. Cedric also played some wide receiver, catching eight passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Griffin also ran back kick offs, one for 95 yards, and two 95 yard punt returns. As a corner back, he made 26 tackles and seven interceptions. While playing at Holmes High School, Cedric played in a state tournament, where his squad fell one game short of a state championship.

Cedric Griffin was a two sport athlete. In addition to football, he also ran in track. Other standout athletes who played with Griffin on the Holmes football squad include Olympic Gold Medalist in 4x400 meter relay Darold Williamson, Robert Quiroga of the Arena Football League, standout defensive tackle at Baylor University Michael Gary, and Division II All-American quarterback from Texas Lutheran University Sean Salinas.

Cedric Griffin went to college at the University of Texas, where he majored in community studies. Griffin red shirted in 2001, his freshman season. The following four seasons, Cedric played in all 55 games, and started in 44 of those games. Griffin recorded 271 tackles (171 solo), broke up 32 passes, and had three interceptions for 29 returned yards. In 2002, he was an honorable mention in the All-Big 12 conference by the coaches for the 2004 season. As a senior on the Texas University National Championship team, Cedric was a key part of the pass defense, that was ranked 8th in the nation, allowing only 172 yards, and 4th in the nation with pass efficiency at 96.7 percent. In Texas' 41-38 victory over USC, he made eight tackles, of which eight were solo. Cedric griffin graduated from Texas in 2006, and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round.

Griffin entered training camp expected to be the nickel or dime back (3rd or 4th corner back). However, when starter Dovonte Edwards went down with a broken arm in a preseason game, the Vikings went with Ronyell Whitaker, who proved to be ineffective. Griffin began to get more and more playing time as the season wore on, and Griffin eventually took the spot over from prized free agent signing Fred Smoot. Smoot is no longer a Viking. Cedric Griffin got his first NFL start at Right Corner back in Chicago, on September 24, 2006.

As a rookie, Griffin lead the Viking rookie class with seven starts. He earned NFC Division Player of the Week honors for his performance at Detroit, when he forced a fumble on the opening kick off, had one fumble recovery, and one interception. Griffin was the only Viking to earn Defensive player of the Week for that season, and the first dime back to earn the award since Brian Williams did it in 2003. Cedric Griffin's first career interception came on October 22, 2006, when he picked off a pass from Seattle's Seneca Wallace, and two months later had his career game vs Detroit, where he got his second professional pick off Jon Kitna.

In Griffin's very short stay with the Vikings, he has had only one injury, where he missed the final game of last season. Griffin injured his neck in the second to last game of the season against the Green Bay Packers. Cedric has a son Swayde, a girlfriend Kelly, who he hopes to marry, and has been active in the community. He has visited the salvation Army in Minneapolis, and has donated tickets for Viking games. Cedric Griffin has been involved in one disorderly conduct case for assault, but that matter has been resolve. Cedric Griffin made his apologies, and has been clean ever since. Griffin is a very supportive teammate, and a positive role model. Griffin has not been involved in any major incidences, and is still active in the Minneapolis community. Keep up the good work Cedric.

SKOL CEDRIC!!!!
&
SKOL VIKINGS!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is nice I don't see other blogers doing profiles of starting players. and you seem to keep up on your site thanks

Michael said...

Thank you,

I appreciate your comment. I like doing the player profile, as it lets me know more about the players on my favorite team. I like to have a little more information on them, then just stats. Some personal background is nice.

I realize that most people probably feel the same as I do, and they dont have the time to look too deep into a players background, and do all kinds of research, so I'll do my best for them.

I will be doing a profile on all the Vikings players, from the all-stars, to the basic starter, to the back ups, and special teams players. Each and every person on our Minnesota Vikings in very important to the team nucleus, and has a specified role.

Hopefully, we can look at all our Viking players as a working unit, rather than just a few stars.

Hope you keep reading, and enjoying.

Anonymous said...

i know his gf kelly and his son is just the cutest!! :)

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

If you need any background on him you can go on sportstalk.com and they have some crazy info on him and his family don't know if it true info.

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