Chris Hoke
Encyclopedia
Chris Hoke is a professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

 of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. He attended college at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

.

High school years

Hoke attended Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....

, and won three varsity letters each in football and track&field. In football, he was a three-time All-League honoree, a two-time All-CIF honoree, and a two-time All-County honoree. As a senior, he was also named the League Defensive Player of the Year and helped lead his team to the CIF quarterfinals. In track & field, he was a three-time League Champion, and a three-time CIF Meet participant. Hoke graduated from Foothill High School in 1994.

College career

Hoke's college career was put on hold for a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Hoke played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

, where he finished his career with 141 tackles and 14 sacks. He majored in communications.

Professional career

Hoke was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

 as an undrafted free agent in 2001. For the first three years of his Steelers career, he was inactive for the majority of time and did not get any playing time. In 2004, Hoke totaled 24 tackles and 1 sack after taking over the starting nose tackle position for the injured Casey Hampton
Casey Hampton
Casey "Big Snack" Hampton, Jr. is an American football nose tackle who currently plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League.-Early years:...

 six games into the season. In 2005 he recorded six tackles and was also part of the Steelers team that won Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League champion for the 2005 season...

 where he also recorded a tackle. The following season he played in all 16 games and finished the season with 12 tackles. On June 21, 2007, he signed a 3-year extension through 2010. He finished the 2007 season with six tackles and 0.5 sacks. Hoke started his first game of the 2008 season in Pittsburgh's Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

game against the Ravens, in Week Four of the 2008 season. He continues to serve as the top back-up to Hampton, relieving him on certain downs.

External links

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