Darren Hambrick is a former American 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...

 linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 in 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...

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At 6'2" and 227 lbs, Hambrick had his best season in 2000 when he led the Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

 with 154 tackles. Hambrick later played for the Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 Browns

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and Carolina Panthers

Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...

. He 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...

 first in Gainesville and then at the University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

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Hambrick's five-year NFL career was cut short because of his off-the-field issues. When he was first in college at the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

, Coach Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier

Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...

 kicked him off the team just prior to the Sugar Bowl after he got into an altercation in which he struck another player in the jaw with broken glass. During his NFL tenure, he attempted to steal paychecks from the Carolina Panthers, and he asked the media, "What do [sic] voluntary mean?" when asked why he did not report to voluntary camp.

Darren is the brother of NFL running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 Troy Hambrick

Troy Hambrick

Troy Hambrick is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He played for the Arizona Cardinals in 2004, and played for the Dallas Cowboys from 2000 to 2003. In his career, he has amassed 2,179 yards rushing and 276 yards receiving in 61 games played...

. He is also related to Major League Pitcher Mudcat Grant

Mudcat Grant

James Timothy "Mudcat" Grant is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Cleveland Indians , Minnesota Twins , Los Angeles Dodgers , Montreal Expos , St. Louis Cardinals , Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates...

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Among a number of unfortunate criminal incidents, on November 20, 2008 Darren was sentenced to 18 months probation

Probation

Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...

after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault.