Nick Bellore is an 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...

 for the New York Jets

New York Jets

The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 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 was signed by the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2011. 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...

 at Central Michigan University

Central Michigan Chippewas football

The Central Michigan Chippewas football team is a college football program in Division I FBS, representing Central Michigan University. They are a top 25 program in terms of all-time winning percentage and top five amongst all teams from non-BCS automatic qualifying conferences...

.

Early years

Bellore was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended Whitefish Bay High School, graduating in 2007. He chose to attend Central Michigan for a chance to start at linebacker immediately, despite interest from the University of Wisconsin and Kansas State University

Kansas State University

Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

.

College career

At CMU, Bellore started at inside linebacker his freshman year and through his senior season. Bellore holds the second highest consecutive start streak at CMU with 51 games. He was an All-MAC First Team selection on defense in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Chippewas appeared in three bowl games during Bellore's career, winning one (the 2010 GMAC Bowl), only the second bowl win in CMU history. He was also selected as CMU's Defensive Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, Bellore drew interest as an undrafted free agent from over half of the teams in the NFL. He signed with the Jets on July 26, 2011, and was kept on the roster to start the 2011 NFL season

2011 NFL season

The 2011 NFL season, the 92nd regular season of the National Football League, began on Thursday, September 8, 2011 with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers defeating the New Orleans Saints 42–34 at Lambeau Field and will end with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on...

.