Cade McNown

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Cade McNown bigraphy, stories - All-American college football player, professional football player, quarterback

Cade McNown : biography

January 12, 1977 –

Cade B. McNown (born January 12, 1977) is a former American college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played college football for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was recognized as an All-American. The Chicago Bears selected him in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft, and he played professionally for the Bears, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers of the NFL.

Early years

McNown was born in Portland, Oregon. He went to high school at San Benito High School in Hollister, California, before transferring as a senior to West Linn High School in West Linn, Oregon, where he played quarterback and free safety.

He led his high school to the 1994 Oregon Class 4A semifinals, becoming wildly touted by newspapers as a college prospect. He also was active on the school track team, where he set a school pole vault record. McNown signed with UCLA after high school. His selection of UCLA was influenced by future NFL quarterback Brock Huard signing with Washington. Huard, along with McNown, were the top high school quarterback prospects in the western United States in 1994.

College career

McNown attended UCLA, and played for the UCLA Bruins football team from 1995 to 1998. He became the starting quarterback as a true freshman, four games into the season, ranking first among all freshmen quarterbacks in many statistics. In 1995, UCLA finished 7–5 and played in the Aloha Bowl (losing to Kansas).

McNown was less successful as a sophomore in 1996, when UCLA would go 5–6 and he would be ranked 9th in the Pac-10 in pass efficiency. But the season ended on a high note as UCLA overcame a 17-point fourth quarter deficit to beat rival USC in overtime, 48–41.

As a junior in 1997, McNown announced the team’s goal to score an average of 30 points per game. They ended up averaging 39.75 points per game. After an 0–2 start, UCLA would win its remaining 10 games, including the 1998 Cotton Bowl Classic over Texas A&M, to finish Pac-10 co-champion and ranked No. 5 in the nation. McNown was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player for that year’s Cotton Bowl Classic. He also was a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award, was named an All-American by the Associated Press (third team), The Sporting News (third team), made the All-Pac-10 team (second team) behind Washington State’s Ryan Leaf, and finished eighth in the Heisman balloting. He led the nation in passing efficiency with a 168.6 rating. His play broke many UCLA records, most of which had been previously set by Tom Ramsey.

In his senior season in 1998, McNown led UCLA to a 10–2 record, including a Rose Bowl appearance as the sole Pac-10 champion. With McNown at the helm, the Bruins’ explosive offense carried them on a school-record 20 game winning streak from the previous year, as they won their first 10 games in 1998, before losing to Miami Hurricanes in their regular season finale where an officiating call that would’ve been reversed by today’s replay technology, a "fumble" attributed to receiver Brad Melsby who’d let the ball go after he’d rolled on the ground with a reception, resulted in a loss that broke the 20-game winning streak and knocked UCLA out of the BCS Championship Game vs. Tennessee. The disappointed Bruins then lost to the Ron Dayne-led Wisconsin in the 1999 Rose Bowl, 38-31. McNown set numerous school records in passing and offense, became the Pac-10’s all-time career leader in total offense, and won a collection of post-season honors, including Pac-10 co-Offensive Player of the Year, the Pop Warner Memorial Trophy for best senior player on the West Coast, consensus first-team All-American honors, and the Johnny Unitas Award as the top senior quarterback in college football. McNown also finished third in balloting for the Heisman Trophy. In the 1999 Senior Bowl, McNown earned MVP honors as he threw two touchdowns in helping to lead the South team to victory.