Arthur Justin Beriault 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...

 player who played free safety 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...

 for the Dallas 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...

.

College career

Beriault was a standout at Warren Central High School

Warren Central High School

Warren Central High School may refer to:* Warren Central High School * Warren Central High School * Warren Central High School...

 in Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

. He led the team with 117 tackles (77 solo) his freshman season and earned a spot on the Football Writers Association and The Sporting News' Freshman All-America squads. Attending Ball State University

Ball State University

Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...

, Beriault earned All-Mid-American Conference

Mid-American Conference

The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 first-team accolades in 2003. He ranked 10th in the nation with 125 tackles (64 solo) in 2004, picking up All-MAC first-team recognition for the second year in a row. He closed out his college career with 508 tackles (267 solo), 19 stops for losses, four interceptions, 12 pass break-ups, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a blocked field goal. Beriault has a degree in criminal justice from Ball State.

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas 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...

 drafted

NFL Draft

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 Beriault in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft

2005 NFL Draft

The 2005 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 2005. The league also held an supplemental draft that year, which was held after...

. Despite playing in several preseason games and earning praise from the Cowboys' coaching staff, a reflare of a knee injury caused the Cowboys to put him on the injured reserve

Injured reserve

The injured reserve list is a list of reserved players who are injured and unable to play for a period of time, used most prominently in the National Hockey League and National Football League . It is used because these leagues have a maximum number of players on the team roster, so placing a...

for his rookie season.

Retirement

In the summer of 2006 during the NFL Preseason, Beriault announced his retirement due to a major knee injury.