Joshua Tyler Freeman (born January 13, 1988) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Kansas State University, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Freeman became the starter for Tampa Bay in his rookie year and went on to break numerous franchise passing records. However, he was released partway through his fifth year with the team.
Freeman was also a member of the Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts, as well as the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
High school career
Freeman passed for over 7,000 yards at Grandview High School where he was a four-star rated prospect by both Rivals.com and Scout.com. As a sophomore, he threw for 1,946 yards and 24 passing touchdowns, leading Grandview to a 9–3 record and a spot in the quarterfinals of the Class 4 playoffs. In addition, he set 10 school records during his career at Grandview, including career passing yards (7,175), passing touchdowns (78), attempts (809), completions (385), yards passing in a game (404), and touchdowns in a game (6). As a junior, he topped 2,400 yards through the air with 23 touchdowns. As a senior, he was the #4 pro-style rated quarterback in the country by Rivals.com as well as being ranked as the #92 overall prospect in the nation by Rivals and the top player in the state of Missouri. He was the #9 quarterback nationally. He led Grandview to a 7–4 record, a district title and a berth in the sectional round of the Missouri state playoffs. He also completed 151-of-286 passes (53%) for 2,622 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2005. He also earned first-team Class 4 all-state honors from the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. Freeman was selected to the Kansas City Star All-Metro team and was the 2005 Thomas A. Simone Award winner as the top player in the Kansas City metro area.
College career
Despite being a highly recruited quarterback prospect, one major program wanted the 6' 5" 225 lb Freeman as a tight end, which his African-American father saw as a racial slight. Freeman said he "didn't see it the same way" at the time, as the school already had a quarterback recruit from his class. Nevertheless, Freeman was not interested, as his longtime goal was to become an NFL quarterback. He originally committed to Nebraska to play for former head coach Bill Callahan, but Kansas State head coach Ron Prince, convinced Freeman to enroll there instead.
As a freshman in 2006, Freeman appeared in 11 of 13 games that season, including starts in the final eight contests of 2006. He replaced Dylan Meier at quarterback during the second half at Baylor and directed the Kansas State offense the rest of the season. He passed for a Kansas State freshman record 1,780 yards on 140-of-270 passing (52%). He became the first true freshman to start a game at Kansas State since 1976. Additionally, he had consecutive 250+ yard passing games against Colorado and Texas, marking the first time a Kansas State quarterback had done so since Michael Bishop in 1998. He attempted a Kansas State freshman-record 47 passes against Nebraska, completing 23 for 272 yards. He earned his first career start against Oklahoma State and led the Wildcats to a comeback win. He finished the game 10-for-15 passing for 177 yards and ran for a game-winning 21-yard touchdown with 1:11 to go in the game. In 2007, he set new single-season school records for pass attempts, completions and yards after throwing for 3,353 yards and 18 touchdowns on 316-of-499 passing. In 2008, Freeman was 224 of 382 passing for 2,945 yards and 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions this season for a passer rating of 132.9. The 14 rushing touchdowns were the fourth-most in a single season by a Wildcat quarterback.
In his three-year collegiate career, Freeman completed 680 passes for 8,078 yards and 44 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in 35 career games. He accumulated a school-record 8,427 total yards and joined Ell Roberson as the only quarterbacks in Kansas State history to score at least 60 touchdowns.
College statistics
College awards and honors
Earned three national player-of-the-week honors after a win over Texas in 2006, including Cingular All-America Player of the Week, the Walter Camp Foundation Offensive Player of the Week, and the Master Coaches Survey Player of the Week. Big 12 Conference Co-Offensive Player of the week (September 2, 2008) USA Today College Football Player of the Week (Named on October 15, 2008)