23-year-old Glen Coffee retires from NFL
Aug 14th, 2010 by Bilal Ali
It’s not often that a third-round pick retires from the NFL in just his second season, but that’s the story of Alabama running back Glen Coffee(notes), who announced Friday that he was leaving the game of football. Coffee explained his decision in a statement released through the team.
“This has been a tough decision for me to make, but at this time in my life I feel it is best for me that I move on from football. I appreciate what the 49ers, my teammates and coaches have done for me, and I wish them a blessed season and all the best in the future.”
So far, this has taken just about everybody by surprise, including the indispensable Niner Insider blog at the San Francisco Chronicle:
Kevin Lynch will be in on this shortly, but in the meantime, yes, the 49ers say Glen Coffee is quitting and Singletary says he doesn’t know why, according to David White.
Heck, The Chronicle had a story in today’s paper, and posted on our main Sports Gate page until a few minutes ago, about Coffee’s lively competition with Anthony Dixon(notes) for carries behind Frank Gore(notes). There was nothing in Coffee’s manner yesterday that indicated he was practicing for the final time.
White notes that Singletary had been saying positive things about Coffee.
He’s just a second-year player!
Very odd. We’ll have more when we know it. Hard to believe he’s really retiring from the NFL.
He is the second 49ers player to leave training camp this week — the team is trying to recoup part of the signing bonus given to 2008 first-round pick Kentwan Balmer(notes), who’s currently AWOL after stretching a two-day leave given by the team.
Coffee, who rushed for 226 yards and one touchdown on 83 carries in his rookie season, will be replaced in the rotation by rookie sixth-round pick Anthony Dixon. Again, it’s important to note that according to all accounts, the 49ers — and head coach Mike Singletary — had no clue that this was going to happen. Coffee informed Singetary of his decision on Friday morning.
Coffee had added weight in the offseason to give himself a better chance of getting more reps in San Francisco’s smashmouth running style. We’ll keep you posted as more specific details are made available.