61 Facts About Colin Kaepernick

Colin Rand Kaepernick is an American civil rights activist and football quarterback who is a free agent.

Colin Kaepernick played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League.

Colin Kaepernick began his professional football career as a backup quarterback to Alex Smith, and became the 49ers' starter in the middle of the 2012 season after Smith suffered a concussion.

Colin Kaepernick then remained the team's starting quarterback for the rest of the season, leading the team to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994.

Colin Kaepernick became a free agent after the season and remained unsigned, which numerous analysts and observers have attributed to political reasons.

Colin Kaepernick withdrew the grievance in February 2019 after reaching a confidential settlement with the NFL.

Colin Kaepernick's protests received renewed attention in 2020 amid the George Floyd protests against police brutality and racism, but he remains unsigned by any professional football team.

Colin Kaepernick was born in 1987 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to 19-year-old Heidi Russo, who is a white American.

Colin Kaepernick's birth father, who is a black American and whose identity is unknown, separated from Russo before Kaepernick was born.

Colin Kaepernick lived in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, until age four, when his family moved to California.

When he was eight years old, Colin Kaepernick began playing youth football as a defensive end and punter.

Colin Kaepernick was the most valuable player of the Central California Conference in football, leading his school to its first-ever playoff victory.

In that game, Colin Kaepernick scored 34 points, but future NBA player Ryan Anderson of Oak Ridge scored 50 points to lead his team to a victory.

Colin Kaepernick received most of his high school accolades as a baseball pitcher.

Colin Kaepernick received several scholarship offers in that sport, but he wanted to play college football.

The University of Nevada, Reno was the only college to offer him a football scholarship, and Colin Kaepernick signed with Nevada in February 2006.

Colin Kaepernick started his college career in 2007 with the Wolf Pack as a back-up quarterback, playing in 11 of the team's 13 games.

Colin Kaepernick became just the sixth player in NCAA history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 or more yards in a single season.

Colin Kaepernick was the first sophomore to win this award since Marshall Faulk of San Diego State did in 1992.

Colin Kaepernick decided that he wanted to continue to play football at the University of Nevada and did not sign with the Cubs.

Colin Kaepernick finished his junior season with 2,052 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, six interceptions 1,183 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.

Colin Kaepernick was named second-team All-WAC quarterback for the season.

Colin Kaepernick ended his senior season with 3,022 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, 1,206 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns.

Colin Kaepernick joined Florida's Tim Tebow as the second quarterback in FBS history to have 20 passing touchdowns and 20 rushing touchdowns in the same season.

Colin Kaepernick was named WAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year with Kellen Moore, who had won the award in 2009.

Colin Kaepernick finished his collegiate career with 10,098 passing yards, 82 passing touchdowns, 24 interceptions, 4,112 rushing yards and 59 rushing touchdowns.

Colin Kaepernick became the first quarterback in the history of Division I FBS college football to have passed for over 10,000 yards and rushed for over 4,000 yards in a collegiate career, a feat that has not been duplicated.

Colin Kaepernick tied former Nebraska quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch for most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in FBS history.

Colin Kaepernick maintained a 4.0 grade point average during his college years and graduated in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in business management.

Colin Kaepernick spent the 2011 season as backup to Alex Smith and attempted just five passes in three games during the season.

In 2012, Colin Kaepernick was initially used sparingly to run certain plays.

Colin Kaepernick scored his first career touchdown in the team's fourth game when he scored on a seven-yard run against the New York Jets.

In Week 10, against the St Louis Rams, Colin Kaepernick replaced Smith in the second half of the game after he suffered a concussion in the first half.

Colin Kaepernick won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 15 against the New England Patriots.

Colin Kaepernick broke the 49ers postseason rushing record, regardless of position and joined Jay Cutler and Otto Graham in both as the only players in NFL history to run for two touchdowns and pass for two others in a playoff game.

Colin Kaepernick was ranked 81st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.

Colin Kaepernick was ranked 81st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.

Colin Kaepernick threw for 3,369 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

In 2015, Colin Kaepernick struggled under new head coach Jim Tomsula.

Colin Kaepernick ended the season with 1,615 yards passing, six passing touchdowns, five interceptions and 256 rushing yards with one rushing touchdown in nine games.

In February 2016, Colin Kaepernick expressed an interest in being traded.

Colin Kaepernick was coming off three surgeries entering the 2016 season, needing operations on his thumb and knee in addition to the season-ending shoulder procedure.

Colin Kaepernick joined Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Randall Cunningham, and Marcus Mariota as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to record at least three passing touchdowns and 100 yards rushing in a game.

Colin Kaepernick planned to run the same offense which he ran the previous year with the Falcons, and did not believe that Kaepernick fit the scheme.

In October 2017, Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL, accusing league owners of collusion to keep him out of the league.

On February 15,2019, it was announced that Colin Kaepernick reached a confidential settlement with the NFL and withdrew the grievance.

Colin Kaepernick continued working out five days a week, and stated publicly and privately that he wished to continue playing.

Colin Kaepernick instead moved to an Atlanta-area high school, where he held a public throwing session attended by scouts from seven NFL teams.

In February 2019, it was reported that Colin Kaepernick spoke with the Alliance of American Football and XFL about becoming a quarterback for them but wanted a guaranteed $20,000,000 per season.

Colin Kaepernick worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders in May 2022.

Colin Kaepernick went on to kneel during the anthem prior to every 49ers game that season.

Colin Kaepernick donated $25,000 to the Mothers Against Police Brutality organization that was started by Collette Flanagan, whose son fell victim to police brutality.

In 2018, Colin Kaepernick announced that he would make the final $100,000 donation of his "Million Dollar Pledge" in the form of $10,000 donations to charities that would be matched by celebrities.

The model was withdrawn after Colin Kaepernick told the brand he and others found the flag offensive because they associated it with slavery.

In October 2020, Colin Kaepernick Publishing launched a project with Medium titled "Abolition For The People", a collection of 30 essays written by several activists calling for police and prison abolition and criticizing prison reform as only "reforming, reshaping, and rebranding" systemic racism.

Colin Kaepernick said "I am a believer in Malcolm X and his ideology and what he talked about and what he believed in as far as fighting oppression".

Colin Kaepernick was baptized Methodist, confirmed Lutheran, and attended a Baptist church during his college years.

Colin Kaepernick's left arm features a Christian cross with the words "Heaven Sent" on it referring to Jesus Christ.

Colin Kaepernick reportedly started dating radio personality and television host Nessa Diab in July 2015, and officially went public about their relationship in February 2016.

Colin Kaepernick's family has had a pet African spurred tortoise named Sammy since he was 10 years old.

Colin Kaepernick published a children's book titled I Color Myself Different in April 2022 through his publishing company and Scholastic.