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'''Asante Samuel''' is a [[National Football League]] cornerback for the [[New England Patriots]]. He was born on January 6, 1981 in Fort Lauderdale, [[Florida]]. Asante is "5-10" (tall) and weighs 185 pounds.
== College Football ==
Asante attended the [[University of Central Florida]] and played at cornerback for the Central Florida (college football team) Golden Knights three of his four years there. In his freshmen year he played at strong safety. He was an impact player both on special teams and defensive back for the team throughout his playing time with the team. In his career with the Golden Knights Asente accumulated a total of 127 tackles, 38 pass deflections (a school record) and 8 interceptions. On the special teams unit he contributed a career total of 63 punt returns for 673 yards (10.8 avg) and 10 kickoff returns for 168 yards. He was named the teams special teams unit captain in his senior season.
== NFL Career ==
In 2003, Samuel entered the NFL Draft and was picked by the [[New England Patriots]] in the fourth round. In his rookie season with the Patriots he played in all sixteen games mostly as a backup cornerback and made one start (week seven vs the [[Miami Dolphins]]). He made his first career NFL interception on the third week of the season in a game vs the [[New York Jets]] when he intercepted a tipped pass from Jets quarterback [[Vinny Testaverde]]and returned it 55 yards for a Patriots touchdown. The points gained on the touchdown scored ended up being the difference in a 23-16 Patriots victory over the Jets and Samuel was named the Defensive Rookie of the Week... In the 2003 postseason, he made a big play in the divisional game vs the Tennessee Titians when he broke up a 4th down pass intended for Titians wide receiver [[Drew Bennett]] to seal a Patriots victory.
The following season, 2004, Samuel essentially became the Patriots starter at cornerback as both of the original starters at the position ([[Ty Law]] & Tyrone Pool] went down with season ending injures. Samuel was not exempt from the injury bug that hit the Patriots secondary as he himself missed three games due to a shoulder injury [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=1918110 suffered] in a game vs the [[Saint Louis Rams]] on the first play of the game. He still managed to make a impact when he played however, starting ten games and playing in thirteen. In the Patriots week thirteen matchup with the [[Cincinnati Bengals]] he provided the winning points in a 35-28 victory when he intercepted Bengals quarterback [[Carson Palmer]] and returned the interception 34 yards for a touchdown. He started all three of the Patriots 2004 postseason games and in the AFC Championship game batted down an amazing 5 passes.
In 2005, Samuel started all 15 games he appeared in and set then personal career highs for a season in almost every one of his statistical defensive category's. In the Patriots come from behind win on ESPN's [[Sunday Night Football]] he made a key diving interception that helped the Patriots win 21 to 16... In the 2005 postseason Samuel was the Patriots unofficial MVP as he made 2 interceptions, including one that he returned 73 yards for a touchdown, 6 knocked down passes, and 7 tackles in the Patriots two postseason games. In 2006, his production exploded as he set career highs for total tackles (64), interceptions (10 - tied for best in the NFL with [[Champ Baily]]), and passes defensed (14). In the 2006 season he started 15 games (he missed one due to injury) and three multiple interceptions games. He had the best game of his career on the week eleven matchup with the NFC best [[Chicago Bears]] when he had 3 interceptions, 9 solo tackles and 3 passes batted down. The last interception he recorded in the game sealed a 17-13 Patriots victory over the Bears. He was named AFC Defensive player of the week for his effort.. Many New England fans were disappointed to see him not receive a Pro Bowl spot that they thought he was worthy of as he surprisingly did not make the AFC Pro Bowl team. However as always Samuel saved his best playing time for the playoffs and in the 2006 Patriots playoff run Samuel had in three playoff games, 2 interceptions, both returned for touchdowns (tying an NFL [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/news/story?id=2738507 record] for most int's returned for TD's in the playoffs), 7 tackles, and 7 passes defensed.
After the 2006 season, Asante's contract with the Patriots ran out but the Pats decided to place their [http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2768800 franchise] tag on him. The franchise tag effectively makes the only team he can do contract negations with the Patriots who must at pay him at the minimal a NFL set predetermined price. At first contract negations between Samuel and the Patriots [http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/01/23/price_goes_up_on_cornerback_samuel/ appeared to be going well but recently they seem to have [http://patriots.scout.com/2/633030.html soured] as they reached [http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/10108712 difficulty's] in reaching a common price on his value. How the outcome of the contract situation will turn out or whether Samuel will play for the Patriots next year is uncertain.
=== NFL Stats ===
== Related Website ==
*[http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/396071 NFL Stats]
*[http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=121&p=8&c=1&nid=1839490 Samuel News]
=== Source Material ===
*[http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=23745 Patriots Bio]