Chris Claiborne

Christopher Ashon Claiborne (born July 26, 1978) is an American football coach and former player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Claiborne played college football for the University of Southern California, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American. He was a first-round pick in the 1999 NFL draft, and played professionally for the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Rams, and New York Giants of the NFL.

After ending his playing career, he entered coaching at the high school level. In 2020, he returned to USC's football team as a quality control analyst and most recently was the Linebackers coach at Arizona State. He recently was the Linebackers coach for the St. Louis BattleHawks of the United Football League (UFL).

Early life Claiborne was born in San Diego, California. He attended John W. North High School in Riverside, California, and was a letterman in both football and basketball. In football, he won All-State honors at running back and linebacker as a senior under head coach Mark Paredes. Claiborne graduated from high school in 1996.

College career Claiborne accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Southern California, where he played for the USC Trojans football team from 1996 to 1998. As a senior in 1998, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. He is also USC's first and only Butkus award winner.

Professional career

The Detroit Lions selected Claiborne in the first round (ninth pick overall) of the 1999 NFL draft, and he played for the Lions from to . He later played for the Minnesota Vikings from to , the St. Louis Rams in , and the New York Giants in . He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in August 2007 but was released before the start of the regular season.

Year Team Games Combined tackles Tackles Assisted tackles Sacks Forced fumbles Fumble recoveries Fumble return yards Interceptions Interception return yards Yards per interception return Longest interception return Interceptions returned for touchdown Passes defended 1999 DET 15 66 50 16 1.5 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2000 DET 16 101 62 39 0.5 3 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 2001 DET 16 119 77 42 4.0 1 1 0 2 11 6 6 0 6 2002 DET 16 100 72 28 4.5 0 1 0 3 63 21 43 1 7 2003 MIN 12 80 61 19 3.0 1 2 0 1 3 3 3 0 7 2004 MIN 12 56 38 18 1.0 1 1 0 1 15 15 15 1 5 2005 STL 14 38 33 5 0.5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2006 NYG 4 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Career 105 562 394 168 15.0 8 8 0 8 93 12 43 2 31

Coaching In February 2013, Claiborne began coaching at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, California. He moved to Calabasas High School in 2014 as defensive coordinator, and took over as head coach in 2018. He resigned in December 2019; in two years as Calabasas' head coach, he went 17–6. On January 25, 2021, Claiborne was named linebackers coach at Arizona State.