Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Weight 95 kg | Name Justin Beriault Positions Safety | |
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Date of birth: (1981-08-23) August 23, 1981 (age 34) NFL draft: 2005 / Round: 6 / Pick: 208 | ||
Place of birth: Indianapolis, Indiana | ||
Arthur Justin Beriault (born August 23, 1981) is a former American football player who played strong safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys.
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Early years
Beriault was a three-sport athlete at Warren Central High School, where he earned All-state honors in football.
He started 45 of the 46 games he played at Ball State University and is one of the few defensive backs to register at least 100 tackles in each season of his four seasons. As a redshirt freshman, he was a starter at outside linebacker and led the team with 117 tackles (77 solo). As a junior, he was converted to strong safety and received All-MAC first-team recognition in 2003. He ranked 10th in the nation with 125 tackles (64 solo) in 2004, and earned All-MAC honors for the second year in a row. He finished his career with 508 tackles (267 solo), 4 interceptions, 12 passes defensed, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a blocked field goal. Beriault graduated with a degree in criminal justice.
Professional career
The Dallas Cowboys drafted him in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft and gave him Bill Bates number. After playing in several preseason games at strong safety and earning praise from the Cowboys' coaching staff, he suffered a knee injury that forced the Cowboys to place him on the injured reserve list on September 3, 2005. He had a dual surgery performed to repair torn medial and lateral meniscus in his right knee, a procedure thought to be career threatening, because at the time no NFL player had fully recovered from an osteotomy surgery.
The next year, he participated in training camp, but ended up announcing his retirement on August 14, 2006.