Chris Doering
Christopher Paul Doering is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for seven seasons in the National Football League during the 1990s and 2000s. Doering played college football for the Florida Gators, earning second-team All-American honors in 1995. He played professionally for the Indianapolis Colts, the Denver Broncos, the Washington Redskins, and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL.
Early life
Doering was born in Gainesville, Florida in 1973. He attended P.K. Yonge High School in Gainesville, where he was a standout prep athlete for the P.K. Yonge Blue Wave in three sports.College career
Doering attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he was a walk-on player for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team in football team|1991]. The Gators coaching staff decided to redshirt him in 1991, and subsequently Doering received an athletic scholarship and played for the Gators from 1992 to 1995. Doering not only earned a scholarship, the former walk-on set records: Doering caught 149 receptions for 2,107 yards and thirty-one touchdowns during his career at Florida. His best-remembered play as a Gator was the game-winning touchdown pass he caught from Gators quarterback Danny Wuerffel to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats, 24–20, in 1993. Sometimes called "The Catch," it is also remembered as "Doering's Got a Touchdown" after the repeated exclamation made by Gator radio host Mick Hubert during his broadcast of the game. During his four seasons as a Gator, the team won three straight Southeastern Conference championships ; as senior team captain in 1995, he received first-team All-SEC and second-team All-American honors.Doering graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1995, and he was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2006. He was picked as the No. 19 greatest Gator from the first 100 years of Florida football in a 2006 article series published by The Gainesville Sun.
Professional career
The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Doering in the sixth round of the 1996 NFL draft. The Jaguars traded him to the Indianapolis Colts before the start of the 1996 season. He played for the Colts in three games in two seasons, but saw little action. The Colts waived him February 1998. The Cincinnati Bengals signed Doering a week later, but waived him before the regular season began.In, Doering signed with the Denver Broncos and appeared in three games. During the preseason, he ruptured his Achilles tendon and was sidelined for the rest of the season, but returned to the Broncos' practice squad in. The Washington Redskins, led by Doering's former Gators coach Steve Spurrier, signed him as a free agent in, and he appeared in fifteen games and started three for the Redskins, compiling eighteen receptions for 192 yards and two touchdowns. In, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed him, and he saw action in nineteen games through, with eighteen catches for 240 yards and a touchdown.
Doering finished his journeyman NFL career with 42 receptions for 476 yards and three touchdowns.