| St. Louis Battlehawks | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Linebackers coach | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1978-07-26)July 26, 1978 (age 47) San Diego, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 255 lb (116 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | John W. North (Riverside, California) | ||||||||||||||
| College | USC (1996–1998) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1999: 1st round, 9th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Christopher Ashon Claiborne (born July 26, 1978) is an Americanfootball coach and former player who was alinebacker in theNational Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Claiborne playedcollege football for theUniversity of Southern California, and was recognized as aunanimous All-American. He was a first-round pick in the1999 NFL draft, and played professionally for theDetroit Lions,Minnesota Vikings,St. Louis Rams, andNew York Giants of the NFL.
After ending his playing career, he entered coaching at the high school level. In 2020, he returned to USC's football team as a quality control analyst and most recently was the Linebackers coach atArizona State. He currently is the Linebackers coach for theSt. Louis BattleHawks of theUnited Football League (UFL).
Claiborne was born inSan Diego, California. He attendedJohn W. North High School inRiverside, California, and was aletterman in bothfootball andbasketball. In football, he won All-State honors atrunning back and linebacker as a senior underhead coach Mark Paredes. Claiborne graduated from high school in 1996.
Claiborne accepted anathletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Southern California, where he played for theUSC Trojans football team from 1996 to 1998. As a senior in 1998, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. He is also USC's first and only Butkus award winner.
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft2+3⁄8 in (1.89 m) | 248 lb (112 kg) | 31+5⁄8 in (0.80 m) | 8+5⁄8 in (0.22 m) | 4.63 s | 1.59 s | 2.66 s | 4.37 s | 7.68 s | 34.0 in (0.86 m) | 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m) | 16 reps | |
| All values fromNFL Combine[1] | ||||||||||||
The Detroit Lions selected Claiborne in the first round (ninth pick overall) of the 1999 NFL draft, and he played for the Lions from1999 to2002.[2] He later played for the Minnesota Vikings from2003 to2004, the St. Louis Rams in2005, and the New York Giants in2006. He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in August 2007 but was released before the start of the2007 regular season.[3]
| Year | Team | Games | Combined tackles | Tackles | Assisted tackles | Sacks | Forced fumbles | Fumble recoveries | Fumble return yards | Interceptions | Interception return yards | Yards per interception return | Longest interception return | Interceptions returned for touchdown | Passes defended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | DET | 15 | 66 | 50 | 16 | 1.5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2000 | DET | 16 | 101 | 62 | 39 | 0.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2001 | DET | 16 | 119 | 77 | 42 | 4.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2002 | DET | 16 | 100 | 72 | 28 | 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 63 | 21 | 43 | 1 | 7 |
| 2003 | MIN | 12 | 80 | 61 | 19 | 3.0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 2004 | MIN | 12 | 56 | 38 | 18 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 1 | 5 |
| 2005 | STL | 14 | 38 | 33 | 5 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | NYG | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 105 | 562 | 394 | 168 | 15.0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 93 | 12 | 43 | 2 | 31 |
In February 2013, Claiborne began coaching atOaks Christian School inWestlake Village, California. He moved toCalabasas High School in 2014 as defensive coordinator, and took over as head coach in 2018. He resigned in December 2019; in two years as Calabasas' head coach, he went 17–6.[5]
Claiborne returned to USC in 2020 as a quality control analyst; he had received his bachelor's degree from the university in 2019.[5] On January 25, 2021, Claiborne was named linebackers coach atArizona State.[6]