Constantin Ritzmann

Constantin Ritzmann (born 20 December 1979) is a former American football player in the National Football League ( NFL ) on the position of the defensive ends.

Early life to 1999

Ritzmann grew up in Pfaffenweiler in the Black Forest. He started at the Danube in Donaueschingen hammer on to play football. He played in the youth of the Berlin Adler and in the GFL at the Hamburg Blue Devils. He was also a member of the junior national team of AFVD and EFAF. Already here he got some honors, such as he was named in the comparison of the Europeans against the Mexicans in 1998 for Most Valuable Player. In an earlier exchange year in the U.S., he first came into contact with American football in his native country. For the crew of the North Florida Christian High School in Tallahassee he put on some records, he scored 26 Sacks and 150 tackles in 14 games and played in the Georgia - Florida All- Star game, was thus one of the best high school Footballer of Florida this year. He was also of the talent scouts of the NFL Europe (formerly NFL Europe), discovered.

In college from 1999

In 1999, Ritzmann to the University of Tennessee, where he played college football for the volunteers. During his career on the college yet he wore the jersey number 6 in the first years starting player, he has played all 13 games in 2001 after all of the volunteers with, but started only in three due to injuries of the other starters. This year he scored in three different ways points. First he scored a safety against a quarterback of the College of Syracuse. In the same game, he intercepted a pass for the two point conversion, the addition attempt for two points after touchdown. In the game against the University of Kentucky, he secured one of teammate intercepted, but lost ball in the end zone for a touchdown. The 2002 season was held because of a serious injury without Ritzmann. A year later, Ritzmann was named one of the team captains. Accordingly, he also got a lot of playing time and day as the only defensive lineman in all 13 games, taking 3.5 quarterback sack ( three alone and with a team of colleagues) and scored 52 tackles, including four tackles in the Peach Bowl against Clemson University.

In the NFL

After completing his college years Ritzmann was taken in 2004 by the Buffalo Bills under contract, but was not used throughout the season. In the next season he was even only in the Practice Squad, that is, it trained only, without being allowed to play. Shortly before the end of the season, on 14 December 2005, he moved to the Atlanta Falcons, where he held his first NFL use in one of the remaining three games, the Falcons lost in each case. Ritzmann came on Christmas Eve in Tampa Bay for use. He is the first German " fielder " in the NFL, that is, the first player with an insert that did not play on special teams. After the end of the 2005 season he got in March 2006 by Atlanta no offer, and has since been a free agent, so no binding contract.

In the early summer of 2006 he trained at the New Orleans Saints.

In the spring of 2007 he was in Berlin Thunder.

Ritzmann is next to Uwe from damage man, Horst Mühlmann, Sebastian Vollmer, Bjorn Werner and Markus Kuhn one of six Germans with at least one game in the NFL.