1. Nathan Ebner was born on December 14,1988 and is an American former professional football player who was a safety and special teamer in the National Football League.
43 Facts About Nate Ebner
1. 2.
Nate Ebner was a rugby sevens player for the United States national rugby sevens team.
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Nate Ebner played rugby union on the US Under-19 and Under-20 national teams, and was named MVP for the teams at both the 2007 and 2008 IRB Junior World Championships.
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Nate Ebner later played rugby sevens for the US national team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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In 36 career college games, Nate Ebner had 30 tackles as a special teams player from 2009 to 2011.
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Nate Ebner was selected by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL draft.
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Nate Ebner earned Super Bowl rings in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks in 2015, Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons in 2017, and Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams in 2019.
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Nate Ebner was born in Dublin, Ohio, the son of Nancy Pritchett and Jeffrey Nate Ebner.
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Nate Ebner's father, who was Jewish, was a former college rugby player at the University of Minnesota, and Sunday School principal at Temple Shalom in Springfield, Ohio.
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Nate Ebner was raised in Mason, Ohio, until sixth grade, and then in Columbus, Ohio.
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Nate Ebner attended Hilliard Davidson High School, but did not play football there.
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Nate Ebner was a standout rugby union player on the US age-group national teams.
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Nate Ebner was named MVP of the USA team at both the under-19 IRB Junior World Championship in 2007, and the under-20 IRB Junior World Championship in 2008.
14.
Nate Ebner attended Ohio State University, where he majored in exercise science.
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Nate Ebner did not play football his first two years of college, as he was competing internationally in rugby, but then in his junior year he walked-on the Buckeyes.
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Nate Ebner played only a handful of plays from scrimmage at nickelback as a backup, but did record a sack.
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Nate Ebner was given a football scholarship his senior year, based on his special teams skills.
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In 2011, during which Nate Ebner had 11 tackles, he was voted the team's most inspirational player, receiving the Bo Rein Award, and the team's best special teams player, earning the Ike Kelley Award.
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Nate Ebner was a three-time Big Ten Conference All-Academic honoree.
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Nate Ebner was nicknamed "Leonidas," after a Greek warrior-king hero of Sparta portrayed by Gerard Butler in the movie 300, because of his intense workout regimen, and his beard.
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Nate Ebner was probably the most valuable player on that whole team last year.
22.
Nate Ebner was selected by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL draft, 197th overall.
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Nate Ebner signed a four-year contract for $2,196,600 with a $96,600 signing bonus.
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Nate Ebner had considered playing rugby, but he was not offered a contract with a professional team.
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Nate Ebner continued to play primarily on special teams for New England in 2013, playing only sparingly on defense.
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Nate Ebner played in 15 regular season games, in which he had 9 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries, and 2 playoff games.
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Nate Ebner won his first Super Bowl ring when the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX after the 2014 season.
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Nate Ebner played 48 percent of special teams snaps, making 11 tackles, while missing four games with a broken thumb during the 2014 season.
29.
On December 6,2015, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Nate Ebner attempted a rare onside drop kick on a kickoff after a Patriots touchdown.
30.
On March 12,2016, Nate Ebner agreed to terms with the Patriots on a new two-year deal for $2.4 million.
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Nate Ebner led the Patriots with 19 special teams tackles, forcing one fumble, through 16 games played.
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Nate Ebner was named to the 2016 AP All-Pro Second Team at the Special Teamer position; he received 12 votes, second only to teammate Matthew Slater's 14.
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On February 5,2017, Nate Ebner was part of the Patriots team that won Super Bowl LI.
34.
On November 27,2017, the Patriots placed Nate Ebner on injured reserve after he tore his ACL on a successful fake punt play during a win against the Miami Dolphins in Week 12, leading to him playing in only nine games for the season, but in those games he had eight special teams tackles which was the most on the team at the time of his injury.
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On March 13,2018, Nate Ebner signed a two-year contract extension with the Patriots.
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Nate Ebner played a majority of special teams snaps in all 15 games.
37.
On March 26,2020, Nate Ebner signed a one-year contract with the New York Giants, uniting him with former Patriots special teams coordinator and newly appointed Giants head coach Joe Judge.
38.
On November 24,2021, Nate Ebner was placed on injured reserve.
39.
Three days after Nate Ebner signed his 2016 contract, the Patriots granted Nate Ebner a leave of absence to try out for the United States national rugby sevens team for the 2016 Summer Olympics, His transfer to rugby sevens followed in the footsteps of Sonny Bill Williams, Bryan Habana, and Quade Cooper, who were rugby union stars attempting to qualify for the Olympics.
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Nate Ebner's efforts proved successful: in July 2016 he was named to the 2016 US rugby sevens team.
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In 2018, Nate Ebner became a minority owner in the New England Free Jacks, a Major League Rugby team, as did his Patriot teammate Patrick Chung.
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However, on June 22,2021, Nate Ebner withdrew from the team, citing recovery from an off-season surgery not aligning with the Games.
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In May 2021, Nate Ebner wrote a memoir about his relationship with his father, Finish Strong: A Father's Code and a Son's Path.