BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Neiko Thorpe (born February 11, 1990) is a professional football defensive back who is currently a free agent. He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He played College football at Auburn and was a member of the 2010 BCS National Championship team.
Early years
Thorpe attended Tucker High School in Tucker, Georgia, he was selected Under Armour All-America team in his senior season in high school. He was rated as the 11th best corner in the nation by Scouts.com and was ranked 53rd best player in Georgia by SuperPrep. [1]
College career
He played College football at Auburn. Neiko committed to Auburn University and played as a true freshman. Thorpe contributed on specials teams and at corner in 11 games with 29 total tackles. He was selected to the Coaches’ All SEC-Freshmen Team. His first game he played as a Tiger, he led the Tigers in seven tackles including five solo vs. Louisiana-Monroe. In his first career start, Thorpe recorded his first career interception and returned it 59 yards against Arkansas He finished his freshmen season tied for ninth-most tackles on the team—20 of them being solo stops. Neiko also tied for the second-most interceptions with two and most return interception yardage with 101 yards.
In 2009, Neiko started 13/13 games and had a total of 84 tackles—56 of them being solo. With this breakout season, Neiko was named Phil Steele’s Third-Team Midseason All-SEC. In the first game of his sophomore season, he started at cornerback vs. Louisiana Tech. He continued to show contribution to the team when he totaled seven tackles, five of them being solo, in a victory against Mississippi State along with an interception against West Virginia that ended a scoring threat at the AU 25-yard line. Against Arkansas, he set a career high of 11 tackles—8 solo tackles. Contributing to his team, Neiko had broke up two passes against UK, one against LSU, and one against Ole Miss which is credited to his speed and ability to make plays on the ball. Thorpe finished the year with an outstanding performance in the Outback Bowl vs. Northwestern. He had a career and team high of 14 tackles (13 being solo) and also an interception. The last tackle came on the last play of the game that prevented the game-winning TD on a fake field goal in overtime with Neiko make a tackle just short of the goal line.
His junior season he made the Coaches’ Second- Team Preseason SEC and proved his preseason rank throughout the season by appearing and starting in 13/14 games. Halfway through the season, Thorpe almost tied his career high with 10 tackles—all being solo stops and had one pass breakup. A few games later he beat his career high of tackles with 12 against Alabama and also had a tackle for loss for minus 1 yard and two PBUs. Thorpe and his team continued on to the SEC championship game vs. South Carolina and contributed four tackles. After the SEC Championship belong to the Tigers, they took on Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game where Neiko had a pair of tackles and one PBU. He finished college with a total of 279 tackles, 7 interceptions, 34 pass deflections, 2 forced fumbles and one touchdown.[2]
Professional career
Kansas City Chiefs
On April 30, 2012, He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an Undrafted free agent.[3] On August 31, 2012, He was released on the day of roster cuts.[4] On September 1, 2012, He was signed to the practice squad.[5] On October 6, 2012, He was promoted from practice squad to the active roster after the team released Bryan Mattison.[6] On October 9, 2012, He was released after the team re-signed offensive lineman Bryan Mattison.[7] On November 11, 2012, He was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster after the team placed Defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey on Injured Reserve.[8] During his time spent on the active roster, Neiko played in nine games and totaled five solo tackles for the season. On August 25, 2013, he was cut by the Chiefs.[9]
Toronto Argonauts
On September 6, 2013, Thorpe signed a practice roster agreement with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He was released by the Argonauts on January 14, 2014.
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