| No. 77, 73, 76 | |||||||||||||
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| Position | Defensive tackle | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1969-05-08)May 8, 1969 (age 56) Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 280 lb (127 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Tallahassee (FL) Leon | ||||||||||||
| College | Florida | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1992: 10th round, 264th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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John Broward "Brad"Culpepper (born May 8, 1969) is an American former professionalfootball player who was adefensive tackle in theNational Football League (NFL) from 1992 to 2000. Culpepper was as anAll-American when he playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators. Selected late in the tenth round of the1992 NFL draft, he became a consistent starter for theMinnesota Vikings,Tampa Bay Buccaneers, andChicago Bears.
Culpepper is also known for appearing on two seasons of the American reality television showSurvivor, appearing onSurvivor: Blood vs. Water (with his wife, Monica, ofSurvivor: One World) andSurvivor: Game Changers.
Culpepper was born inTallahassee, Florida in 1969.[1] He attendedLeon High School in Tallahassee,[2] where he was a standout prep player for the Leon Lionshigh school football team.[citation needed]
Culpepper was born into a family ofUniversity of Florida alumni.[3] His father, Bruce Culpepper, was a center for theGators football team from 1960 to 1962 and co-captain of their 1962Gator Bowl team, and became a prominent Tallahassee attorney.[3] His uncle, Blair Culpepper, was a Gators fullback in 1957 and 1958, and became a bank president inWinter Park, Florida.[3] His grandfather,J. Broward Culpepper, was also a Florida graduate and served as the chancellor of theState University System of Florida.[4]
Culpepper accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coachGalen Hall and coachSteve Spurrier's Gators teams from1988 to1991.[5] During his senior season in 1991, Culpepper was a standoutdefensive tackle and team captain on the Gators'Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship team, a first-team All-SEC selection and a consensus first-team All-American.[5][6] He finished his college career with eighteenquarterback sacks and 47.5tackles for a loss.[5] He was also named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years, was a first-teamAcademic All-American, and received theDraddy Trophy recognizing him as college football's most outstanding student-athlete.[5][7] While Culpepper was a Florida undergraduate, he was also an active member ofSigma Chifraternity (Gamma Theta chapter).[citation needed]
Culpepper graduated from Florida with his bachelor's degree in history after his junior year, and enrolled in a master's degree program in exercise and sports sciences during his senior football season. He was inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2001.[8][9] The sports editors ofThe Gainesville Sun ranked him as the No. 47 all-time greatest player of the first 100 seasons of the Florida Gators football team in 2006.[10]
Culpepper was a tenth round selection (264th overall pick) in the1992 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings,[11] and he played for the Vikings from1992 to1993,[12] theTampa Bay Buccaneers from1994 to1999,[13] and theChicago Bears in2000.[14] In his nine-year professional career, Culpepper played in 131 games, started 83 of them,[1] and recorded 34quarterback sacks and onesafety.[15]
After finishing his professional playing career, Culpepper returned to graduate school and law school full-time, and earned his master's degree andJ.D. degree from Florida in 2001.
Culpepper is now a trial lawyer for the Culpepper Kurland law firm inTampa, Florida.[16] Since his retirement, he has spoken out about his concerns regarding the increasing size of NFL players; he believes that the increasing number of 300-pound (140 kg) players is "unnatural and unsafe" and has led to many serious health problems. During his football career, Culpepper inflated his weight to 280 pounds (130 kg); after he retired from professional football, he lost almost 100 pounds (45 kg).[17]
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Prior to his appearances, Culpepper's wife Monica was selected as a participant for the24th season of the CBS reality television showSurvivor.[18]
Monica and Brad participated together in the show's 27th season,Survivor: Blood vs. Water.[19] Culpepper was the sixth person eliminated from the game and came in 15th place while Monica was the season's runner-up.[20]
On May 6, 2015, it was revealed that Culpepper was one of 16 former male players eligible to be voted ontoSurvivor's 31st season,Survivor: Cambodia. However, he was not voted onto it.[21]
On February 8, 2017, Culpepper was revealed to be one of the contestants competing inSurvivor: Game Changers, the show's 34th season, which began airing in March 2017. Throughout Culpepper's second season, he played relatively consistently, and stayed loyal to his alliances, despite being in the minority for the most part. However, at his endgame, he won five individual immunity challenges; a feat shared only by a few other elite Survivor players, which propelled him to the Final Three withSarah Lacina and "Troyzan" Robertson. Although Culpepper played a solid social game and was a prominent threat, he became very arrogant and made some remarks toward fellow tribe mate Tai Trang that other players perceived as condescending in the last few days. Fellow tribemate Aubry Bracco in her jury speaks video controversially said she had hesitations about voting for Brad to win because of his "racist and sexist tendencies". At the Final Tribal Council, Lacina's skillful strategic and social gameplay was preferred by the jury over Culpepper's physical dominance, and she was awarded the title of "Sole Survivor" in a 7–3–0 vote. Culpepper received three votes, making him the runner-up.[22]
In 1990, Culpepper met Monica Frakes when he was a sophomore at the University of Florida.[23] The couple married weeks after Culpepper was drafted into the NFL in 1992.[24] The couple have three children together.[18] Their oldest son, Rex, was a quarterback atSyracuse University, and their other son, Judge, was a defensive lineman at theUniversity of Toledo.[25][26]
He and his wife, Monica, are the onlySurvivor couple to both be runners-up in separate seasons. Coincidentally, they both achieved this feat in their second time playing the game, Monica inSurvivor: Blood vs. Water and Brad inSurvivor: Game Changers, after being voted out pre-merge in their debut seasons.[27][circular reference][28][circular reference]
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United States portal| Preceded by Ken McNickle | Runner-Up ofSurvivor Survivor: Game Changers | Succeeded by Chrissy Hofbeck |