Deshea Townsend

Trevor Deshea Townsend (born September 8, 1975) is a former cornerback in the National Football League, and is currently the cornerbacks coach at Mississippi State University. Formerly he served as an assistant defensive backs coach for the Arizona Cardinals and most recently a player for the Indianapolis Colts. He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected by the Steelers in the fourth round (117th overall) in the 1998 NFL Draft.

Early years
A native of Batesville, Mississippi, Deshea played high school football for the South Panola Tigers, where he was the teammate of fellow future Alabama Crimson Tide star Dwayne Rudd. Townsend played quarterback at South Panola and led the team to the 1993 Mississippi State 5A championship and an undefeated 15-0 record.

College career
Along with Rudd, Townsend continued his career in college at the University of Alabama where both became members of the Theta Delta Chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, in 1995. He majored in business management.

Professional career


A twelve year veteran of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Townsend grew from a special teams player and nickel back (and initially known in Pittsburgh as the player to wear Rod Woodson's number 26 after he left the Steelers) into a solid starter for the Steelers at cornerback. Townsend is known for his outside speed as a pass rusher. Townsend has recorded 322 tackles, 15.5 quarterback sacks, and 18 interceptions during his ten years as a Steeler. He also had a key sack on Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck during the final minutes of Super Bowl XL, which helped secure the Steelers eventual victory. He was re-signed by the Steelers as an unrestricted free agent in March 2006.

During the 2008 season, Townsend accepted the reduced role from starting cornerback to the nickel package.

In August 2010, Townsend joined the Indianapolis Colts. On 9 November 2010, he was waived by the Colts. For the season, Townsend played in all eight Colts games to that date (no starts) with 10 tackles and no interceptions or sacks. Deshea resides in Oxford, MS and is married with three kids.

Coaching career
In February 2011, Townsend was hired as assistant defensive backs coach of the Arizona Cardinals, joining former coach Ray Horton.

In January 2013, Townsend was hired as cornerbacks coach at Mississippi State University.