Aaron Boone (American football)

Aaron Rostenbach Boone (born January 13, 1978) is a former American professional football player who was a wide receiver in National Football League (NFL), NFL Europe (NFLE) and the Arena Football League (AFL). After playing college football for the University of Kentucky, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) in 2003. In 2004, he signed with the Chicago Bears and 2005 Carolina Panthers. He played for the Berlin Thunder of NFLE, and the Philadelphia Soul, Kansas City Brigade, and Utah Blaze of the AFL. In 2011 before suffering a career ending knee surgery Aaron became the All-Time Utah Blaze franchise leading wide receiver in all categories including receptions, yards and touchdowns.

High school years
Boone attended Millard High School in Fillmore, Utah, where he was an All-State selection in baseball, basketball and football. In his senior year he lead his team as quarterback to a 2-A state championship title in 1995. Served as student body president.

College career
University of Kentucky as a senior, he led the team in all receiving categories with 41 receptions for 706 yards and 10 touchdowns. He led the nation in Receptions-to-Touchdowns ration (minimum of 10 touchdowns) with 4:1. He also tied for the most receiving touchdowns in the SEC. He graduated with a degree in Business Management and a minor in Spanish. Previous to transferring to Kentucky in 2000, Boone earned First-team All-America by the JC Gridwire and All-America by the National Junior College Athletic Association at Snow College in Ephraim Utah. He caught 81 passes for 1,505 yards and 19 touchdowns in his Sophomore year.

National Football League/NFL Europe
Boone signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys in 2003. The following year, he was signed by the Chicago Bears and allocated to NFL Europe where he played for the Berlin Thunder. Boone had 13 receptions for 221 yards and four touchdowns. He led the league in touchdown-to-catch ratio (30 percent) and ranked third in receiving touchdowns. Berlin finished the season with a record of 9–1 and defeated the Frankfurt Galaxy 30–24 in World Bowl XII. In 2005, Boone signed with the Carolina Panthers and was again allocated to NFL Europe. He played in 10 regular season games for the Thunder and led the league in receptions with 43, ranked second in touchdowns with five, second in yards with 582, and fifth in points scored with 30. He helped the team to a berth in World Bowl XIII. After the NFL Europe season, he returned to Carolina and spent time with the Panthers until he suffered a season ending shoulder injury.

Arena Football League
Boone joined the Philadelphia Soul in 2006. Later that season, he was traded to the Kansas City Brigade, where he was named to the AFL All-Rookie team. He recorded 66 receptions for 748 yards and 19 touchdowns as a rookie in only seven games.

In 2007, Boone signed with the Utah Blaze, where he played in only seven games, due to an early season ankle injury. For the season he recorded 32 receptions for 420 yards and eight touchdowns. In 2008, Boone completed his second year with the Blaze finishing third in the entire AFL with 135 receptions and eighth in the AFL in yards with 1,527. He also added 23 touchdowns during 16 games.

In 2010, Boone recorded a career-best season, earning him All-Arena League honors. He played in 16 games where he led the Blaze in all receiving statistical categories. Boone finished third in the AFL with 146 catches, fourth in touchdowns with 46, and eighth in yards with 1,448. This was the second straight season Boone had tallied over 135 receptions, 1,400 yards and 25 touchdowns. During a nationally televised game (NFL Network) versus the Milwaukee Iron on May 14, Boone scored a franchise best seven touchdowns in one game.

In 2011 at the age of 33 Boone was on pace to shatter the AFL single season receiving records in receptions, yards and touchdowns until half way through the season when he suffered a career ending knee injury. Prior to the injury, Boone did became the All-Time Utah Blaze franchise leading wide receiver in all categories including receptions, yards and touchdowns.

Personal
In his free time, Boone enjoys eating, traveling, looking for deals at yard sales, new business ventures, scuba diving, and ping-pong. His favorite sports team growing up was the Chicago Bears and his favorite athletes are Walter Payton and Andre Dawson. Boone is the sixth of 10 children. He is from an athletic family; his father played football at BYU, his younger brothers Jesse currently plays in the United Football League (UFL) for the Locos, and Jason played football for Utah, and his older sister Amy played basketball and volleyball at George Mason University as well as semi-pro basketball for the San Diego Wave of the NWBL.

Boone and his wife, Lindsay, currently reside in Sandy, Utah and have two young children.