SUMMARY
- Roman Reigns has played football for three years at Pensacola Catholic High School and one year at Escambia High School.
- Recently, in an interview with TMZ Sports, Calvin Johnson praised his old teammate for a legendary career at WWE.
The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, needs no validation to showcase his stardom and dominance. His Bloodline faction, which consists of himself and his cousins Usos and Solo Sikoa, has been at the top for a long time. The six-time World Champion is currently having one of the longest runs as a WWE World Champion, which has extended over 1200 days.
Few people know that Roman Reigns was a football player in the early days of his career. He has played football for three years at Pensacola Catholic High School and one year at Escambia High School.
Roman Reigns and NFL legend Calvin Johnson were actually teammates in Georgia Tech 🏈 pic.twitter.com/8qFSY0CDBo
— WrestlingWorldCC (@WrestlingWCC) September 18, 2023
He continued to play football in college at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he played for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team. With his friend and teammate Calvin Johnson, who later became a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions in the NFL.
Recently, in an interview with TMZ Sports, Calvin Johnson praised his old teammate for a legendary career at WWE and revealed that he was not surprised as Roman always had the potential. He was a “Bada**” at Georgia Tech.
Calvin Johnson Says Roman Reigns Was ‘A Badass’ At GT, WWE Career Not Surprising | Click to read more 👇 https://t.co/PrWKagEJw8
— TMZ (@TMZ) December 25, 2023
The former NFL Hall of Famer said, “He was just always like a bada**; he didn’t say much, but when he did say something, you listened.” Calvin explained how Roman didn’t speak much, but his actions spoke for him. He further added, “My man is killing it out here,” praising his achievements.
Calvin went on to explain how ‘The Tribal Chief’ belonged to a great lineage and would do something great after wrestling. He mentioned how Roman fought cancer, which slightly derailed his career, but it may have been “a blessing in disguise,” which allowed him to take on some great things.
Why did Roman Reigns quit football?
Roman Reigns originally Leati Joseph Anoaʻi wanted to pursue football as a career from a young age. He played a lot of football in his school year and continued it in college. Until 2006, Roman had some significant achievements in his football career.
He had a record of 40 tackles, 2 recovered fumbles, and 4.5 sacks, which earned him ALL-ACC first-team honors. After this, he declared himself eligible for the 2007 NFL draft but went unsigned. To his surprise, he was signed as a free agent by the Minnesota Vikings for an off-season Stint, but it could not last long.
Roman Reigns was diagnosed with leukemia during the physical examination and was dropped by the Vikings soon after that. He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars after the Vikings cut him off, but this time it did not end well, and he was released by them too.
Roman was still adamant about pursuing a career in football at this point and went to Canada, where he played one season in the CFL for the Edmonton Eskimos in 2008. After getting released, he finally gave up on football and retired from the sport.
Reigns has had a career full of struggles and difficulties. Overcoming these obstacles made him stronger and more determined, which led to his success. He will be defending his WWE Universal Championship at Royal Rumble 2024, where all eyes will be upon the superstar who has consistently proved himself for such a long time.
